MALEBRANCHE, (NICOLAS).

Entretiens sur la Metaphysique & sur la Religion.

Rotterdam, Reinier Leers, 1688. Small 8vo. Fine contemp. full mottled calf, richly gilt back. Titlelabel in leather. (6),604 pp. A very small inkspot in upper margin of the last 20 leaves. On good paper, clean and fine.

First edition. Malebranche is one of the major philosophers of Cartesianism and his philosophy sought to synthesize Cartesianism with the thought of St. Augustin and with Neoplatonism. His "Entretiens..." (Dialogues on Metaphysics and Religion) as a series of 14 dialogues, is perhaps the best introduction to his philosophy in general.
"The French Cartesian Nicolas Malebranche was hailed by his contemporary, Pierre Bayle, as "the premier philosopher of our age." Over the course of his philosophical career, Malebranche published major works on metaphysics, theology, and ethics, as well as studies on optics, the laws of motion and the nature of color. He is known principally for offering a highly original synthesis of the views of his intellectual heroes, St. Augustine and René Descartes. Two distinctive reults of this synthesis are Malebranche's doctrine that we see bodies through ideas in God and his occasionalist conclusion that God is the only real cause." (Stanford Encycl. of Philosophy).

Order-nr.: 35871