Occasionalism

By Hasker, William

Occasionalism is often thought of primarily as a rather desperate solution to the problem of mind–body interaction. Mind and body, it maintains, do not in fact causally affect ...

Occasionalism

By Schmaltz, Tad

Occasionalism was a theory of causation that played an important role in early modern metaphysics. In its most radical form, this theory holds that God is the only ...

Introduction to Philosophy

By Crane, Tim

REP can be approached at so many different levels: philosophers at any stage can lose themselves in the interconnected web of entries. ...

Causation, in modern philosophy

By Boehm, Miren; Palatnik, Nataliya

The new science of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries sparked intense reflection and theorizing on the nature of causation. Philosophers attempted to account for the nature of causation ...

Astell, Mary (1666–1731)

By O'Neill, Eileen

Best known for her proposal to establish a women’s college, Astell published on a variety of other topics: religious dissent, the social contract, the marriage contract, epistemic issues, ...

Cudworth, Ralph (1617–88)

By Hutton, Sarah

Ralph Cudworth was the leading philosopher of the group known as the Cambridge Platonists. In his lifetime he published only one work of philosophy, his True Intellectual System ...

Mind and body in early modern philosophy

By Duncan, Stewart

European philosophers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries proposed a wide range of views about the nature of the mind and its relation to the body. ...

La Forge, Louis de (1632–66)

By Nadler, Steven

Louis de la Forge, a medical doctor by profession, was an important champion of Cartesian philosophy in mid-seventeenth century France. Through his work on the first published edition ...

Edwards, Jonathan (1703–58)

By Wainwright, William J.

Jonathan Edwards’ work as a whole is an elaboration of two themes – God’s absolute sovereignty and the beauty of his holiness. God’s sovereignty is articulated in several ...

Malebranche, Nicolas (1638–1715)

By Nadler, Steven

Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715), a French Catholic theologian, was the most important Cartesian philosopher of the second half of the seventeenth century. His philosophical system was a grand synthesis ...

Malebranche, Nicolas (1638–1715)

Nicolas Malebranche, a French Catholic theologian, was the most important Cartesian philosopher of the second half of the seventeenth century. His philosophical system was a grand synthesis of ...

Fontenelle, Bernard de (1657–1757)

By Schonfeld, Martin

Despite his considerable historical importance and vast output of literary, critical and philosophical works, Fontenelle did not make original contributions to philosophy. He popularized a modern view of ...

Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm (1646–1716)

By Garber, Daniel

Leibniz was one of the central figures of seventeenth-century philosophy, indeed, one of the central intellectual figures of his age. Born and educated in Germany, he travelled to ...

Judgment and belief, in early modern philosophy

By Marušić, Jennifer

What is the difference between simply thinking about something and judging or believing that something is the case? ...

Stewart, Dugald (1753–1828)

By Madden, Edward H.

Dugald Stewart was, after Thomas Reid, the most influential figure in the Common Sense School; he was a major influence on Victor Cousin and Théodore Jouffroy in France ...

Atomic (sentence or formula)

Valuation

Régis, Pierre-Sylvain (1632–1707)

By Lennon, Thomas M.

Régis helped to define and disseminate Cartesianism. He proselytized on its behalf, defended it against its critics and innovators, and wrote the systematic textbook for which Descartes had ...

Descartes, René (1596–1650)

By Garber, Daniel

René Descartes, often called the father of modern philosophy, attempted to break with the philosophical traditions of his day and start philosophy anew. Rejecting the Aristotelian philosophy of ...

Causality and necessity in Islamic thought

By Burrell, David

Discussions of causality and necessity in Islamic thought were the result of attempts to incorporate the wisdom of the Greeks into the legacy of the Qur‘‘an, and specifically ...

Empathy in Ethics

By Schramme, Thomas

It is often said that empathy means to share the feelings of others, although what exactly this amounts to is a moot point. More generally, understanding other minds ...

Foucher, Simon (1644–96)

By Nadler, Steven

Simon Foucher, Canon of Dijon, was a sceptical thinker, active in intellectual circles in Paris. His main philosophical project was the revival of Academic scepticism, and he emerged ...

Cordemoy, Géraud de (1626–84)

By Nadler, Steven

Géraud de Cordemoy was, by profession, first a lawyer, then a tutor to the Grand Dauphin, first son of Louis XIV. But he was also one of the ...

Il’in, Ivan Aleksandrovich (1883–1954)

By Grier, Philip T.

Educated in law and philosophy in the first years of the twentieth century at Moscow University and several Western European universities, Il’in produced an important two-volume commentary on ...

Species

By Sterelny, Kim

The diversity of life is not seamless but comes in relatively discrete packages, species. Is that packaging real, or an artefact of our limited temporal perspective on the ...