The Search after Truth: With Elucidations of The Search after Truth (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) [Paperback]

Nicolas Malebranche (Author), Thomas M. Lennon (Editor), Paul J. Olscamp (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0521589959 | ISBN-13: 978-0521589956 | Publication Date: May 28, 1997

Malebranche is now recognized as a major figure in the history of philosophy, occupying a crucial place in the Rationalist tradition of Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz. The Search after Truth is his first, longest and most important work; this volume also presents the Elucidations that accompanied its third edition, the result of comments that Malebranche solicited on the original work and an important repository of his theories of ideas and causation. Together, the two texts constitute the complete expression of his mature thought, and are written in his subtle, argumentative and thoroughly readable style.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"...I would like to emphasize again the great value that this volume represents to students and historians of philosophy primarily working in the English language. The translations are in a fluent style, the formatting of the book utilizes a pleasing layout, and...the editor has supplied a good store of scholarly help to go on." Thomas Heyd, Dialogue

Book Description

Malebranche is now recognized as a major figur e in the history of philosophy, occupying a crucial place in the Rationalist tradition of Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz. The Search after Truth is his first, longest and most important work; this volume also presents the Elucidations which accompanied its third edition, the result of comments that Malebranche solicited on the original work and an important repository of his theories of ideas and causation. Together, the two texts constitute the complete expression of his mature thought, and are written in his subtle, argumentative and thoroughly readable style.

Product Details

• Paperback: 824 pages
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press (May 28, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0521589959
• ISBN-13: 978-0521589956
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #904,829 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An important work in Early Modern Philosophy, August 9, 2000

By 

Bradley W. Pace (Evanston, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Search after Truth: With Elucidations of The Search after Truth (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) (Paperback)

Malebranche's importance as a philosopher has been rediscovered in the past 50 years. I say "rediscovered" because Malebranche was extremely influential in his time--garnering disciples both on the continent and in Great Britain. Locke, Liebniz, Berkeley, Hume, Reid, et al. owe much to his work. In the Search we find Malebranche's main arguments for the doctrine of vision in God and occasionalism. This latter theory held a prominent place in the 17th century as a solution to Descartes' famous mind-body problem. Of Malebranche's work, the Search is the most important, containing a nearly complete account of his philosophical and theological system. One note of caution, the Malebranche of the Search after Truth did have a tendancy to ramble (not unlike Locke). In reading it, one will have to wade through tedious sections on the psychology of those who take themselves to be witches or werewolves and the optical illusion of the moon's image on the horizon. However, Malebranche's opus is worth reading, especially for anyone interested in the development of philosophy during its most elegant time.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars good find, October 1, 2009

By 

George M. Plasterer "Weird Book" (Indiana) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Search after Truth: With Elucidations of The Search after Truth (Cambridge Texts in the History of Philosophy) (Paperback)

Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) has been has been a surprising philosophical find for me. Although I have heard about him, one usually reads of brief dismissals, such as "occasionalist." I learned that the French value him greater than do German or English philosophical tradition. At least in the translations I read, I found him delightful, insightful, and thought provoking. Since there were no reviews when I bout the book, I thought I would try to the wet the appetite of others.

One example is that while he is proudly a follower of Descartes, he often has an intriguing of putting his thought. Concerning the principle of doubt, he says the spirit with which we doubt is something to which we need to pay attention. The point is not to doubt everything in the fashion of a skeptic. Rather, one must doubt from the perspective of caution, distrust, wisdom, and insight.

He offers an interesting interpretation of Adam. He turned away from the pleasure of the presence of God to the pleasure of his body. In doing so, he became a slave to sense and passion, which then blinded him from the source of his true pleasure and joy. We now have the obligation to struggle against the errors of sense that bind us to the body and the physical world. Yet, this binding is actually through our will and freedom, which have experienced the deepest corruption from sin.

Consistent with Descartes, he refers to people who have a mind to prefer the minds of others in the search for truth, rather than the mind God has given them. One must learn to receive guidance from one's own eyes rather than the eyes of others. One who has good eyes would not think of closing them or removing them in order to have others guide them. What I like about this is that one must train oneself to think and gain wisdom for one's life, rather than go through life blindly trusting someone else. No one else will become the authority for living the unique life God has given you.

He has a controversial notion of the relation between God and the human mind. God has the ideas of all the beings God has created within the mind of God. God sees all these beings by considering the perfections God contains to which they are related. Through the divine presence, God is in close union with our minds, such that one might say that God is to the human mind what space is to the senses. The mind can see what in God represents created beings. Such beings are intelligible and present to the mind. The mind can see the works of God in God. This view of things places the human mind in complete dependence on God.

Consistent with Descartes, Malebranche discusses what he considers the most persuasive proof of the existence of God. He refers to the idea we have of the infinite, a proof that he thinks assumes the least. The mind perceives the infinite, even if it cannot comprehend it. The mind also has a clear and distinct idea of an infinitely perfect being, God, an idea that one could not create. In fact, the mind actually has the idea of infinite before it has an idea of finite. We conceive of being before we conceive of it as either infinite or finite. The general notion of being is prior to our carving out of being something finite. The general notion of being must always come first.

He has an interesting insight. God has created us to depend on each other. In fact, we are to some extent joined to the entire universe. We experience a bond with our country our goods, or parents, and so on, by a natural union that does not now depend on our will. He notes that great people actually depend upon more things than do others. Great generals must rely upon many fellow officers and soldiers. Our minds unite to the things closest to us, for they are the things that relate to the preservation of our lives.