Search results

Presents an analysis of Fenelon's critique (Refutation du systeme du P. Malebranche [Refutation of the System of P. Malebranche]) of Malebranche's Traite de la nature et de la grace (Treatise on Nature and Grace). In the first seven chapters, Fenelon shows that Malebranche destroys divine freedom, making this world the only world possible. Similar arguments showing the contingency of the world & divine liberty are traced to their post-Cartesian origins in exchanges between G. W. Leibnitz & Arnaud, as well as to the work of St. Thomas Aquinas & H. Gouhier. It is noted that Fenelon's critique stopped short of advocating an opposing form of determinism, such as in the case of Arnaud. J. Sadler

An examination of Chpt 27 of the Second Book of John Locke's Essay concerning Human Understanding (Of Identity & Diversity) traces arguments concerning the issue of identity to Locke's rejection of the Cartesian doctrine of thought as the essence of the mind. For Locke, the "I" is not only a thinking thing, defined only by perception or conscience, but also a thing capable of pleasing or hurting, & thus concerned with itself & of its own present & past actions. Responsibility is defined in the context of an individual as a human. The responsible human being is conscious & preoccupied with personal happiness &, thus, the consequences of personal actions. J. Sadler

A reflection on A. M. Ramsey's Philosophical Principles of Natural and Revealed Religion (1748-49) discussing liberty as free will, & liberty & self-determination belonging to the rational subject. Ramsey argues that liberty is the eternal, immutable, & universal law in the world, which applies equally to loving God for oneself, & loving all other creatures in proportion to their resemblance to God. Tolerance & political liberty are justified by virtue of universal salvation & freedom, & the universality of grace & the free cooperation of intelligent creatures. While Ramsey's politics aligned with exiled Jacobites, he was also guided by providentialism in protecting the integrity of divine & human freedom, & in choosing a conciliatory, but skeptical, approach to English rule. His classic defense of Freemasonry drew on his position in the organization in France in the 1730s. J. Sadler