La Rochefoucauld and other “moralists” offer a penetrating and witty critique of human pride, selfishness, and hypocrisy. Is this just cynicism, or does it support a positive ethic?

How the French formal garden embodied both Cartesian philosophy and the political ideology of the French monarchy.

How philosophy at the universities evolved in response to Cartesianism and the “new science.”

Arnauld’s attack on Malebranche’s theory of the “vision in God” leads to a nuanced debate over the nature of ideas.

What inspired the occasionalist theory embraced by the 17th century Cartesians? We find out from a leading specialist on the topic.

What led Malebranche to his notorious view that all bodily motions and thoughts are caused by God, with created things serving only as “occasions” for divine action?

We begin to explore Malebranche’s controversial development of Cartesian philosophy by looking at his theodicy.

Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole update the study of logic to take account of the ideas of Descartes.