Dialogues on Metaphysics by Malebranche Nicolas Nicolas;

Author:Malebranche, Nicolas, Nicolas;
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 1702158
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Group

XII. THEOTIMUS. I have been convinced of these truths for a long time. But since you wish me to contest Theodore’s opinion, I ask you to solve a little difficulty. Here it is. I quite understand that a body cannot of itself set itself in motion; but supposing it to be once moved, I maintain that it can set another body in motion, as a cause between which and its effect there is a necessary connection. For let us suppose that God had not yet established laws for the communication of motion, there would then in that case be no occasional causes. This being so, let the body A be set in motion, and in following the line of its motion let it slip on the body B, which I suppose to be concave and as the mould of the body A. What will happen? Decide.

ARISTES. What will happen? Nothing, for when there is no cause there can be no effect.

THEOTIMUS. What? Nothing? Something new must take place, for the body B will either be moved in consequence of the shock, or it will not be moved.

ARISTES. It will not be.

THEOTIMUS. So far, so good. But, Aristes, what becomes of the body A when it meets B? Either it will rebound or not. If it rebounds, we have a new effect of which B is the cause. If not, the matter is worse still, for we have then a force which is destroyed, or at least which does not act. The shock of bodies, then, is not an occasional cause, but a very real and veritable cause, since there is a necessary connection between the shock and such effect as you choose. Thus …

ARISTES. Wait a moment, Theotimus. What is it you are proving? That bodies being impenetrable, it follows necessarily that at the moment of the shock God determines to make a choice with regard to what you have just put before me. That is all. I am not alarmed. You do not prove at all that a body in motion can by virtue of something which belongs to it move whatever it encounters. If God had not as yet established the laws for the communication of motion, the nature of bodies, their impenetrability, would constrain Him to make such laws as He deemed fit, and He would determine Himself in accordance with those laws which are the simplest, if these latter were sufficient for the execution of the works which He willed to form out of matter. But it is clear that impenetrability has no efficacy of its own, and that it can only give God, who deals with things in accordance with their nature, an occasion for varying or diversifying His activity without changing anything in His mode of operation.

Nevertheless, I am quite content to say that a body in motion is the true cause of the movement of those bodies which it encounters, for we must not quarrel about words. But what is a body in motion? It is a body transported by a divine act.

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