Book Description

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... Chapter iii: Malebranche's Psychology (Continued). The Natural Inclinations. Let us continue our account of Malebranche's psychology. The Fourth Book of the Recherche de la verite concerns the ' Inclinations or Natural Passions of the Mind.'" Just as God gave motion to matter, so he gave inclinations to minds.2 But it is an incontestable truth that God has no end for his actions but himself.3 He must have himself as his principal end, for he would err were he to put his end in everything that did not, like himself, contain all good.3 Nevertheless, he can have, as a subordinate end, the conservation of created beings, for these too, to a certain extent, can participate in his goodness. Now the natural inclinations of created minds are certainly continual impressions of the will of their creator and conserver.3 It is necessary that they can have no other principal end than his glory, nor secondary end than their own conservation and the conservation of others, but always with regard to him who gave them being.4 There is, strictly speaking, in God only one love, which is love of himself, and as God can love nothing save by that love, since God can love nothing save by relation to himself, thus God has given us only one love, which is the love of good in general.4 Love of the good in general is the principle of all our special loves.4 This love is our will, which is simply the continual impression exerted by God on all finite creatures towards the all-inclusive good.6 Not only does our will for good in general come from God, our inclinations for particular goods, which are common in all men, such as our inclination for the perpetuation of our owji being and of those with whom we are united by nature, are simply effects of the divine will as...