Malebranche's natural theodicy and the incompleteness of God's volitions

Religious Studies 36 (1):47-63 (2000)
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Abstract

The causal power of Malebranche's God is a function of the content of His will. Yet despite its significance for Malebranche, little exegetical attention has been paid to his notion of volitional content. In this paper I develop the notion of an 'incomplete' volition, note that Malebranche accepted and used something like it, and then examine Malebranche's natural theodicy in its light. This yields a new interpretation in which, unlike previous interpretations, Malebranche actually succeeds in reconciling his seemingly incompatible beliefs that: (1) God alone is causally responsible for all natural states of affairs; (2) God's power is His will; (3) God wills to produce only goods; and yet (4) genuine evils exist

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Andrew Pessin
Connecticut College

Citations of this work

Does Continuous Creation Entail Occasionalism?: Malebranche.Andrew Pessin - 2000 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 30 (3):413-439.
Does Continuous Creation Entail Occasionalism?Andrew Pessin - 2000 - Canadian Journal of Philosophy 30 (3):413-439.

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