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13Natures, Laws, and Miracles: The Roots of Leibniz's Critique of OccasionalismIn Steven Nadler (ed.), Causation in Early Modern Philosophy, Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 135--58. 1993.Leibniz raises three main objections to the doctrine of occasionalism: (1) it is inconsistent with the supposition of finite substances; (2) it presupposes the occurrence of "perpetual miracles"; (3) it requires that God "disturb" the ordinary laws of nature. At issue in objection (1) is the proper understanding of divine omnipotence, and of the relationship between the power of God and that of created things. I argue that objections (2) and (3), on the other hand, derive from a particular conce…Read more
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52Leibniz’s “On Generosity,” With English TranslationThe Leibniz Review 12 15-21. 2002.The essay “On Generosity” holds a special place among Leibniz’s ethical writings. In no other text does Leibniz give such prominence to the concept of generosity, or relate it to his central doctrine of justice as the charity of the wise. The circumstances of the piece’s composition are uncertain. Watermark dating of the paper places it in the period 1686-1687. The Academy editors suggest a connection between it and a text by an unknown author, “Discours sur la generosité,” a transcription of wh…Read more
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22G. W. Leibniz's Monadology: An Edition for Students. Nicholas Rescher (review)Isis 83 (4): 662-663. 1992.
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Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy: Volume Iv (edited book)Oxford University Press UK. 2012.Oxford Studies in Early Modern Philosophy is an annual series, presenting a selection of the best current work in the history of early modern philosophy. It focuses on the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries -- the extraordinary period of intellectual flourishing that begins, very roughly, with Descartes and his contemporaries and ends with Kant. It also publishes papers on thinkers or movements outside of that framework, provided they are important in illuminating early modern thought.
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118Spinoza and the dictates of reasonInquiry: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Philosophy 51 (5). 2008.Spinoza presents the “dictates of reason” as the foundation of “the right way of living”. An influential reading of his position assimilates it to that of Hobbes. The dictates of reason are normative principles that prescribe necessary means to a necessary end: self-preservation. Against this reading I argue that, for Spinoza, the term “dictates of reason” does not refer to a set of prescriptive principles but simply the necessary consequences, or effects, of the mind's determination by adequate…Read more
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127 Malebranche's TheodicyIn Steven Nadler (ed.), The Cambridge companion to Malebranche, Cambridge University Press. pp. 165. 2000.
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