Treatise On Nature And Grace Traité De La Nature Et De La Grace. English

Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) was the most important French philosopher between Descartes and Rousseau. His __Treatise on Nature and Grace__, first published in 1680, is one of the most celebrated and controversial works of seventeenth-century philosophical theology. This major text, last translated into English in 1695, is here made available to a new generation of readers in an entirely new translation, with a substantial scholarly introduction. The central argument, that God governs the realms of nature and of grace by simple, constant, and uniform "general wills," not through "particular providence," had fundamental repercussions within the contemporary debates on the nature of divine grace and of salvation, contradicting the claims of the Calvinists and Jansenists that God wills the individual salvation of an elected few. Hailed as a work of genius by Bayle and Leibniz, the __Treatise__ was to have a profound and far-reaching influence on the development of eighteenth-century thought. Nicolas Malebranche (1638-1715) was the most important French philosopher between Descartes and Rousseau. His Treatise on Nature and Grace, first published in 1680, is one of the most celebrated and controversial works of seventeenth-century philosophical theology. This major text, last translated into English in 1695, is here made available to a new generation of readers in an entirely new translation, with a substantial scholarly introduction. The central argument of the Treatise is that God governs the realms of nature and of grace by simple, constant, and uniform Cartesian general laws and 'general wills', not through particular providence. This contention had fundamental repercussions within the contemporary debates on grace and salvation, contradicting the claims of the Calvinists and Jansenists that God wills the particular salvation of an elected few. Hailed as a work of genius by Bayle and Leibniz, the Treatise was to have a profound effect upon the development of eighteenth-century thought through the theory of the just and justifiable 'general will', which re-emerged in secular form in the work of Rousseau. Patrick Riley's limpid translation is complemented by his introductory essay locating the work in French philosophical tradition and exploring its far-reaching influence upon contemporary and subsequent writers A scholarly edition of Nicolas Malebranche's Treatise on Nature and Grace by Patrick Riley. The edition presents an authoritative text, together with an introduction, commentary notes, and scholarly apparatus. Nicolas Malebranche ; Translated With An Introduction And Notes By Patrick Riley. Translation Of: Traité De La Nature Et De La Grace. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [217]-219) And Index.