|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries: |
Research categories | Follow us on Twitter |
Research categories
View all topics in the newsView all reference sources at Encyclopedia.com |
|||
occasionalism
occasionalism metaphysical doctrine that denies that finite things have any active power and asserts that God is the only cause, whereas physical events and mental states are only occasions for God's action. Muslim theologians in the 8th cent. developed a version of occasionalism as an alternative to Aristotelian theories of causality. Occasionalism gained currency in the West in the 17th cent., when Arnold Geulincx and Nicolas Malebranche developed theories to resolve the problem of interaction in general, and of that between mind (immaterial) and body (material) in particular, which was posed by the dualism of René Descartes. |
|
|
Cite this article
"occasionalism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "occasionalism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-occasion.html "occasionalism." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2011. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-occasion.html |
|
Occasionalism
Occasionalism. The view that God is the direct creator by way of cause of all occasions (as held, e.g., by some Muslims); or that God is the occasioning intermediary between soul and body: when the soul consents to an action, God moves the body, and when the body makes a demand of any sort, God makes the soul aware of it.
|
|
|
Cite this article
JOHN BOWKER. "Occasionalism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Occasionalism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Occasionalism.html JOHN BOWKER. "Occasionalism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Occasionalism.html |
|
Occasionalism
Occasionalism. The philosophical theory of the relation of mind to matter which denies that finite things have efficient causality and postulates that God always intervenes to bring about a change in matter when a change occurs in the mind, and vice versa. Among its chief exponents were A. Geulincx and N. Malebranche.
|
|
|
Cite this article
E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Occasionalism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 31 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Occasionalism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 31, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Occasionalism.html E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Occasionalism." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 31, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-Occasionalism.html |
|
Search over 100 encyclopedias and dictionaries:
HighBeam™ Research, Inc. © Copyright 2012. All rights reserved.
The Encyclopedia.com advertising network includes:
