Journal of the History of Philosophy

BOOK REVIEWS 263 we see Being without limitation, "the concrete God of Exodus,who is the very act of existing" (p. 160), for whom "existence is prior to essence" (p. 158; cf. G. R.-L., p. 103). "If God is Being, the pure act of existing, and if He creates spontaneously for his own glory,.., what is the ontological status of the created objects that come forth from this spontaneous, self-diffusive energy?" (p. 191). M.'s answer is his theory of oecasionslism, and Mrs. Rome's interpretation has three steps: (1) the notion of creation; (2) an occasional cause does not act in virtue of an essence; and yet (3) it does act (p. 210). The relationship between Being and beings is not a logically necessary relationship because existence is not a logical derivative of ideas or essences. Distinguishing his occasionalism from that of Descartes (cf. n. 257, pp. 400-402), Malebranche argues that a proof of the existence of things is impossible because creation is spontaneous, springing from God's self-love rather than from relationships between ideas within His Wisdom (of. ch. 6). The existence of things therefore must be known empirically rather than deductively, because, although their status is not arbitrary, it is contingent. God's power, precisely because creation is contingent, can only be known a posteriori (pp. 163-164; cf. G.R.-L., pp. 124-125). The reality of things, then, is as-active, i.e., as "process" for bodies, or as "willing" for minds (p. 162). Activity is the principle of finite individuation (p. 198). Occasionalism as a "metaphysical account of finite being" (p. 161) thus begins neither with Being nor with beings, but with both. A being is a synthesis of Being and Wisdom, of existence and ordered relationships, in act (p. 236; cf. G.R.-L., pp. 137-147). "The theory of occasionalism is not intended to impale one on the horns of a dilemma, but to help one escape from a false dichotomy; it is put forth to harmonize reason and the senses" (p. 232). With the search for occult causes banished from the realm of experience, and finite beings posited a posteriori as "cores of energies" (p. 238), the way is open to seek order in their relationships as they actively "determine" that order. Oceasionalism becomes a theory for the empirical study of finite beings (cf. also G. R.-L., pp. 294-299). Mrs. Rome has contributed a carefully argued interpretation of Malebranche, based on attentive reading. In this reviewer's opinion, her work not only takes the place of Church's for English readers, but also should provoke fresh consideration of Malebranehe as a philosopher . Mme: Rodis-Lewis provides a selected bibliography, referring her readers to Gregor Sebba's Nicolas Malebranche: 16S8-1715. A Preliminary Bibliography (Athens: University of Georgia, 1959). Mrs. Rome omits any reference to Sebba. She also omits dates of original publication for works of Malebranche, Descartes, Leibniz, Locke, and others cited in her bibliography. CRaG WALTON University o] Southern California Freedom and Dignity: The Historical and Philosophical Thought o] Schiller. By Deric Regin. (The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1965. Pp. 153.) In his interesting book on Friedrich Schiller, Derie Regin, in an effort to characterize Schiller 's synthesis of politics and morals, tends to fall into a net of abstractions, and his failure to rescue Schiller from the "polarities" dear to commentators gives rise to the question: how indeed can intellectual history deal with the synthetic mind? The pity is that Regin's book has many merits, not least for devotees of Schiller. Where it fails is to prove why the uninitiate should undertake to study this "poet-historian," whose work~ Regin believes, marks an important stage in the evolution of thinking about man's "alienation." In what must be conscious imitation of Schiller, Regin constructs his book in three parts, each organized around a pair of polar opposites. Part One, entitled "Between Arcadia and Karlsschule," contains excellent biographical material on the years 1778 to 1788, concluding with a provocative chapter on the affinities between Schiller and the Romantics, both in 264 HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY Germany and elsewhere (e.g., Wordsworth and Leopardi). Regin depicts...