Malebranche, Nicolas (1638–1715)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Nadler
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Nicolas Malebranche ◽  
Nature And Grace ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
Mental Events ◽  
The Universe

Nicolas Malebranche (1638–1715), a French Catholic theologian, was the most important Cartesian philosopher of the second half of the seventeenth century. His philosophical system was a grand synthesis of the thought of his two intellectual mentors: Augustine and Descartes. His most important work, De la recherche de la vérité (The Search After Truth), is a wide-ranging opus that covers various topics in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, physics, the physiology of cognition, and philosophical theology. It was both admired and criticized by many of the most celebrated thinkers of the period (including Leibniz, Arnauld and Locke), and was the focus of several fierce and time-consuming public debates. Malebranche’s philosophical reputation rests mainly on three doctrines. Occasionalism – of which he is the most systematic and famous exponent – is a theory of causation according to which God is the only genuine causal agent in the universe; all physical and mental events in nature are merely ‘occasions’ for God to exercise his necessarily efficacious power. In the doctrine known as ‘vision in God’, Malebranche argues that the representational ideas that function in human knowledge and perception are, in fact, the ideas in God’s understanding, the eternal archetypes or essences of things. And in his theodicy, Malebranche justifies God’s ways and explains the existence of evil and sin in the world by appealing to the simplicity and universality of the laws of nature and grace that God has established and is compelled to follow. In all three doctrines, Malebranche’s overwhelming concern is to demonstrate the essential and active role of God in every aspect – material, cognitive and moral – of the universe.

Malebranche, Nicolas (1638–1715)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Nadler
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Nicolas Malebranche ◽  
Nature And Grace ◽  
The World ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
Mental Events ◽  
The Universe

Nicolas Malebranche, a French Catholic theologian, was the most important Cartesian philosopher of the second half of the seventeenth century. His philosophical system was a grand synthesis of the thought of his two intellectual mentors: Augustine and Descartes. His most important work, De la recherche de la vérité (The Search After Truth), is a wide-ranging opus that covers various topics in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, physics, the physiology of cognition, and philosophical theology. It was both admired and criticized by many of the most celebrated thinkers of the period (including Leibniz, Arnauld and Locke), and was the focus of several fierce and time-consuming public debates. Malebranche’s philosophical reputation rests mainly on three doctrines. Occasionalism – of which he is the most systematic and famous exponent – is a theory of causation according to which God is the only genuine causal agent in the universe; all physical and mental events in nature are merely ‘occasions’ for God to exercise his necessarily efficacious power. In the doctrine known as ‘vision in God’, Malebranche argues that the representational ideas that function in human knowledge and perception are, in fact, the ideas in God’s understanding, the eternal archetypes or essences of things. And in his theodicy, Malebranche justifies God’s ways and explains the existence of evil and sin in the world by appealing to the simplicity and universality of the laws of nature and grace that God has established and is compelled to follow. In all three doctrines, Malebranche’s overwhelming concern is to demonstrate the essential and active role of God in every aspect – material, cognitive and moral – of the universe.

Laws of Nature

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Philosophy Of Science ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Current Debate ◽  
Scientific Theories ◽  
Law Of Nature ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Universe

The concept of a law of nature, while familiar, is deeply puzzling. Theorists such as Descartes think a divine being governs the universe according to the laws which follow from that being’s own nature. Newton detaches the concept from theology and is agnostic about the ontology underlying the laws of nature. Some later philosophers treat laws as summaries of events or tools for understanding and explanation, or identify the laws with principles and equations fundamental to scientific theories. In the first part of this volume, essays from leading historians of philosophy identify central questions: are laws independent of the things they govern, or do they emanate from the powers of bodies? Are the laws responsible for the patterns we see in nature, or should they be collapsed into those patterns? In the second part, contributors at the forefront of current debate evaluate the role of laws in contemporary Best System, perspectival, Kantian, and powers- or mechanisms-based approaches. These essays take up pressing questions about whether the laws of nature can be consistent with contingency, whether laws are based on the invariants of scientific theories, and how to deal with exceptions to laws. These twelve essays, published here for the first time, will be required reading for anyone interested in metaphysics, philosophy of science, and the histories of these disciplines.

scholarly journals Le Corbusier: architecture, music, mathematics: longing for classicism?

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Germana Gonçalves ◽  
Maria João Dos Reis Moreira Soares
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
The Will ◽  
Music And Mathematics ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Universal Order ◽  
Siglo Xx ◽  
The Universe

Abstract: This paper aims to study the role of the relationships between architecture, music and mathematics in Le Corbusier's thought and work and their relevance in his reinterpretation of classical thinking. It seeks to understand to what extent working with this triad – a foundational and, up until the seventeenth century, dogmatic aspect of architecture in general and of its aesthetics in particular – expresses a will not to break with the fundamental and defining aspects of what could be considered as architectural thought rooted in classical tradition: that which is governed by the will to follow the universal order in the work of art; building a microcosmos according to the macrocosmos; linking, in proportion to one another, the universe, man and architecture. The Modulor presents itself as a manifestation of that will, synthesizing these aspects while proposing itself as an instrument for interdisciplinary thought and practice in which the aforementioned aspects of classical thought are present, clearly and pronouncedly. Le Corbusier’s thought and work presents itself as a twentieth century memory of an ancient and ever present tradition conscious of its struggle for “humanity”. Resumen: Este artículo pretende estudiar el papel de la relación entre arquitectura, música y matemática en el pensamiento y la obra de Le Cobusier y su significado en su reinterpretación del pensamiento clásico. Intenta entender en qué medida con esta triada – aspecto fundacional y hasta el siglo XVII dogmático de la arquitectura, en general, y de su estética, en particular – Le Corbusier expresa su recusa por cortar el vínculo con los aspectos fundamentales y definidores de lo que puede considerarse un pensamiento de tradición clásica en arquitectura: aquel tutelado por la voluntad de seguir el orden universal en la obra de arte – construyendo un microcosmos según un macrocosmos – para así vincular, a través de la proporción, universo, Hombre y arquitectura. El Modulor se presenta como manifestación de esa voluntad, sintetizando estos aspectos y presentándose como un instrumento para un pensamiento y una práctica interdisciplinares en los cuales el pensamiento clásico se encuentra clara y marcadamente presente. El pensamiento de Le Corbusier, través su mirada hacia la relación arquitectura-música-matemática, se presenta, en el siglo XX, como una memoria de una antigua y siempre presente tradición, consciente de su busca por “humanidad”.  Keywords: Le Corbusier; Architecture, music and mathematics; classical thought; Modulor. Palabras clave: Le Corbusier; Arquitectura, música y mathematica; pensamiento clásico; Modulor. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.791

Laws of God or Laws of Nature?

2019 ◽  
pp. 58-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Laws Of Nature ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Natural Order ◽  
The World ◽  
Divine Commands ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
Will Of God

The appeal to laws of nature as an explanatory principle is often regarded as fundamental to naturalism. Yet when the idea that there were immutable, mathematical laws of nature first rose to prominence in the seventeenth century it was deeply connected to a theological understanding of natural order. Descartes thus imagined laws of nature to be divine commands, and attributed their immutability to the immutability of their divine source. For Descartes, Boyle, and Newton, the invariable uniformity of nature was understood as a consequence not of God’s withdrawal from the world, but of his direct and incessant engagement with it. It followed that the world was to be investigated empirically, because this was the only way in which the otherwise inscrutable will of God could be discerned. Over the course of the following centuries, however, laws came to be reimagined as simply observational generalizations, or brute features of the natural world.

Parliamentary Life in the Crown of Aragon: Cortes, Juntas De Brazos, and Other Corporate Bodies

2002 ◽  
Vol 6 (4) ◽  
pp. 362-395
Author(s):  
Xavier Gil
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Sixteenth Century ◽  
Institutional Development ◽  
Active Role ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Status ◽  
Crown Of Aragon ◽  
Political Crises ◽  
Political Scene

AbstractThe Cortes of Aragon, Catalonia, and Valencia were well known in Renaissance times for their mature institutional development and their capacity to counterbalance the tendency of monarchs towards authoritarianism. But, from the mid sixteenth century onwards, they were summoned by kings at increasingly long intervals, thus losing part of their visibility in the political scene. But this did not exactly mean parliamentary decline. As Cortes became rarer, lesser corporate bodies, ultimately deriving from the Cortes themselves, acquired an enhanced political status. Different sorts of meetings of estates (brazos) and small committees of members of the estates, while already known in previous times, won a more active role by the late sixteenth century and were a major, if not crucial, factor in the different political crises of the seventeenth century. This article contributes to the current reassessment of the Cortes by emphasizing the role of these bodies, focusing on their interplay with the Cortes, with some comparative remarks on other such bodies in Europe.

scholarly journals Some Remarks on the Islamic and the Secular Paradigms of Knowledge

1995 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 539-544
Author(s):  
Taha J. Al Alwani
Keyword(s):  
Driving Force ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Similar Degree ◽  
The West ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe ◽  
The Church ◽  
The Way

By the time secularist thought had succeeded, at an intellectuallevel, in challenging the authority of the Church, its roots had alreadytaken firm hold in western soil. Later, when western political and economicsystems began to prevail throughout the world, it was only naturalthat secularism, as the driving force behind these systems, shouldgain ascendency worldwide. In time, and with varying degrees of success,the paradigm of positivism gradually displaced traditional andreligious modes of thinking, with the result that generations of thirdworld thinkers grew up convinced that the only way to “progress” andreform their societies was the way of the secular West. Moreover, sincethe experience of the West was that it began to progress politically,economically, and intellectually only after the influence of the Churchhad been marginalized, people in the colonies believed that they wouldhave to marginalize the influence of their particular religions in orderto achieve a similar degree of progress. Under the terms of the newparadigm, turning to religion for solutions to contemporary issues is anabsurdity, for religion is viewed as something from humanity’s formativeyears, from a “dark” age of superstition and myth whose time hasnow passed. As such, religion has no relevance to the present, and allattempts to revive it are doomed to failure and are a waste of time.Many have supposed that it is possible to accept the westernmodel of a secular paradigm while maintaining religious practices andbeliefs. They reason that such an acceptance has no negative impactupon their daily lives so long as it does not destroy their places ofworship or curtail their right to religious freedom. Thus, there remainshardly a contemporary community that has not fallen under the swayof this paradigm. Moreover, it is this paradigm that has had the greatestinfluence on the way different peoples perceive life, the universe,and the role of humanity as well as providing them with an alternativeset of beliefs (if needed) and suggesting answers to the ultimate questions ...

scholarly journals Radikalisme, Anti-Amerikanisme, dan Islamofobia

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 134-147
Author(s):  
Vicky Izza El Rahma
Keyword(s):  
Civil Society ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Religious Institutions ◽  
Community Members ◽  
The World ◽  
State Governance ◽  
East And West ◽  
Global Agenda ◽  
Inter State

Abtrack: Radicalism, anti-Americanism, and Islamophobia are three ‘-ism’s that are being the motive of action for one another. Therefore, the project to tackle all three must be a global agenda that not only involves inter-State governance in the East and West, but also demands the active role of community members, civil society institutions, religious institutions, and media times in each Country. In this paper will be outlined the global paradigm that the world scholars of the world are contemplating in order to overcome all three.

scholarly journals A Review of Machine Translation Tools: The Translation’s Ability

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 162-176
Author(s):  
Tira Nur Fitria
Keyword(s):  
Machine Translation ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Active Role ◽  
Translation Tools ◽  
The World ◽  
Human Skills ◽  
Translation Machine ◽  
One Machine ◽  
Descriptive Qualitative

The objective of the research is to review the ability of online machine translator tools includes Google Translate (GT), Collin Translator (CT), Bing Translator (BT), Yandex Translator (YT), Systran Translate (ST), and IBM Translator (IT). This research applies descriptive qualitative. The documentation was used in this study. The result of the analysis shows that the translation results are different, both from the style of language and the choice of words used by each machine translation tool. Thus, directly or indirectly, whether consciously or not, each translation machine carries its characteristics. Machine translation technology cannot be separated from the active role of humans. In other words, it will always be the best choice for users to rely on expert translation rather than machine translation. But no machine translator can be as accurate as human skills in producing translation products. In particular, the field of translation is also concerned with machine translation to support the performance of translators in analyzing the diction used as an element of language. In this regard, it needs to be underlined that the existence of machine translation is an additional facility in the world of translation, not as the main means of translation because the sophistication of the machine will not be able to match the flexibility of the human brain's cognitive abilities in adjusting the translation results according to the existing context. Accurate translation is sometimes subjective, relatively often temporal. Therefore, it is permissible for translating by more than one machine translator 

scholarly journals Mitos dan Budaya

Humaniora ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mia Angeline
Keyword(s):  
Human Activity ◽  
Daily Activities ◽  
Modern Culture ◽  
The Core ◽  
The World ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Universal Themes ◽  
The Universe

This article describes the role of myth and some universal themes of myth, such as the creation of the world, a huge flood, death, and the end of the world. Almost all the world's myths concern this universal themes, as seen from the similarity of some of the myths followed by many cultures in the world. These myths have primary functions to human’s behavior and attitude because people keep telling almost the same myths to their predecessors. The goals for this research are (1) knowing the functions of myths with famous themes from various culture and (2) knowing the background and relationship between myths and modern culture. The result describes the relationship between the cultural myths, where the core of the story is the truth of humanity. In addition, myth acts as a template to organize their daily activities as well as human activity, but it also serves to introduce human to a greater power in the universe. The values in each story will be interpreted as rules and customs that must be met, and this has resulted in the emergence of a culture passed down from generation to generation. 

scholarly journals Violence in post-apartheid South Africa and the role of church and theology

2004 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
C.F.C. Coetzee
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Revolutionary Violence ◽  
The World ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Church

South Africa is known as one of the most violent countries in the world. Since the seventeenth century, violence has been part of our history. Violence also played a significant role during the years of apartheid and the revolutionary struggle against apartheid. It was widely expected that violence would decrease in a post-apartheid democratic South Africa, but on the contrary, violence has increased in most cases. Even the TRC did not succeed in its goal to achieve reconciliation. In this paper it is argued that theology and the church have a great and significant role to play. Churches and church leaders who supported revolutionary violence against the apartheid system on Biblical “grounds”, should confess their unbiblical hermeneutical approach and reject the option of violence. The church also has a calling in the education of young people, the pastoral care of criminals and victims, in proclaiming the true Gospel to the government and in creating an ethos of human rights.

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