Broad argues that, in spite of the strong influence of the English Malebranchean John Norris on her thought, Astell was not an
occasionalist about body--mind interaction.
But must this role be as the complete and sole cause of all natural phenomena, as the
occasionalist would have it?
Tucker is tracing an "almost ineffable, phantasmal presence" here--a phantom which can only be limned by a theory that is "itself somewhat
Occasionalist" (in the way that Tucker cannot demonstrate a causal connection between Geulincx and the processes described) (74).
Whereas commentators are practically unanimous in granting Coredmoy's full
occasionalist pedigree, Nadler asserts that they miss an important lack of argumentation against the soul's activity within Cordemoy's account.
In Part I, Ott aims to vindicate in part the Hatfield-Garber thesis that Descartes is a "limited
occasionalist": in the Principles of Philosophy (though not in Le Monde), he holds that created minds have causal powers, but bodies do not.
Nicolas Malebranche; freedom in an
occasionalist world.
It is a problem already known to the abandoned
occasionalist tradition, which cannot remain abandoned any longer due to the contributions of a surprising figure--Martin Heidegger.
In fact, Griffel had already asserted that "in its practical implications and particularly regarding the pursuit of the natural sciences, the
occasionalist universe of al-Ghazali is indistinguishable from the universe of the falasifa" (p.
While the opponent here is not identified, the character of his objection strongly suggests that Ibn Sina is dealing with an
occasionalist. For in attacking the notion of ontological priority in the second sense (which is both necessary and necessitating), Ibn Sina clearly indicates his rejection of essential efficient causation itself.
This position has sometimes led to Geulincx being cast as an
occasionalist, but like Leibniz he conceives of divine omnipotence in terms of originating perfection (and thus "synchronization") rather than constant intervention by a conserving or directing force.
Malebranche believed, as an
occasionalist, that God is the only true cause of effects in nature, but also maintained that human freedom is among the greatest of the effects of divine wisdom.
In the realm of natural philosophy, the rise of voluntaristic conceptions of God along with a trend towards
occasionalist understandings of causation gave rise to the notion of divinely ordained, externally imposed laws of nature.
