The Crisis of Causality: Voetius and Descartes on God, Nature and Change (Brill's Studies in Intellectual History)

The Crisis of Causality deals with the reaction of the Dutch Calvinist theologian Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) to the New Philosophy of René Descartes (1596-1650). Voetius not only criticised the Cartesian idea of a mechanical Universe; he also foresaw that shifting conceptions of natural causality would make it impossible for theologians to explain the relationship between God and Creation in philosophical terms. This threatened the status of theology as a scientific discipline. Apart from a detailed analysis of the Scholastic and Cartesian notions of causality, the book offers new perspectives on related subjects, such as seventeenth-century university training and the Cartesian method of science. It will be of great importance to any student of seventeenth-century intellectual history, philosophy, theology and history of science. "The Crisis of Causality" deals with the reaction of the Dutch Calvinist theologian Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) to the "New Philosophy" of Rene Descartes (1596-1650). Voetius not only criticised the Cartesian idea of a mechanical Universe; he also foresaw that shifting conceptions of natural causality would make it impossible for theologians to explain the relationship between God and Creation in philosophical terms. This threatened the status of theology as a scientific discipline. Apart from a detailed analysis of the Scholastic and Cartesian notions of causality, the book offers new perspectives on related subjects, such as seventeenth-century university training and the Cartesian method of science. It will be of great importance to any student of seventeenth-century intellectual history, philosophy, theology and history of science. The Crisis of Causality deals with the reaction of the Dutch Calvinist theologian Gisbertus Voetius (1589-1676) to the New Philosophy of Rene Descartes (1596-1650). Voetius not only criticised the Cartesian idea of a mechanical Universe; he also foresaw that shifting conceptions of natural causality would make it impossible for theologians to explain the relationship between God and Creation in philosophical terms. This threatened the status of theology as a scientific discipline. Apart from a detailed analysis of the Scholastic and Cartesian notions of causality, the book offers new perspectives on related subjects, such as seventeenth-century University training and the Cartesian method of science. It will be of importance to students of seventeenth-century intellectual history, philosophy, theology and history of science PREFACE ABBREVIATIONS INTRODUCTION CHAPTER ONE. VOETIUS' ESSAY "ON THE NATURES AND SUBSTANTIAL FORMS OF THINGS" CHAPTER TWO. SPECIES AND FORMS CHAPTER THREE. FINALIST PHYSICS CHAPTER FOUR. THE MECHANICAL ALTERNATIVE: PERCEPTION AND CAUSALITY CHAPTER FIVE. THE MECHANICAL ALTERNATIVE: FROM ENDS TO IMPULSE CHAPTER SIX. THE COMPOSITE CHARACTER OF SUBSTANTIAL UNITY CHAPTER SEVEN. ULTIMATE CAUSES IN MECHANICAL PHYSICS CHAPTER EIGHT. THE CARTESIAN WORLD CHAPTER NINE. CAUSES, CONSERVATION AND CONCURRENCE CHAPTER TEN. CONCLUSIONS: THEOLOGY BETWEEN VITALISM AND MECHANISM BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX This text examines the reaction of the Dutch Calvinist theologian Gisbertus Voetius to the "New Philosophy" of Rene Descartes. The Scholastic and Cartesian notions of causality are discussed, along with related topics such as 17th-century university training and the Cartesian method of science.