HoP 490 Steven Nadler on Occasionalism

More episodes from "History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps"

• 

  HoP 490 Steven Nadler on Occasionalism

  4/5/2026

  32:15

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

  HoP 489 All Power to Him: Malebranche and Occasionalism

  3/22/2026

  21:17

  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?
• 

  Don't miss an episode of “History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps” and subscribe to it in the GetPodcast app.

  
• 

  HoP 488 No Particular Reason: Nicolas Malebranche

  3/8/2026

  19:34

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

  HoP 487 Showing Good Judgment: The Port Royal Logic

  2/22/2026

  21:58

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

  HoP 486 Friends of the Truth: Arnauld and Jansenism

  2/8/2026

  19:32

  Antoine Arnauld combines Cartesian philosophy with Jansenism, one of the most controversial religious movements of the 17th century.
• 

  HoP 485 Liz Jackson on Pascal's Wager

  1/25/2026

  38:41

  An interview on contemporary approaches to Pascal's Wager: where decision theory meets philosophy of religion.
• 

  HoP 484 You Bet Your Life: Pascal’s Wager

  1/11/2026

  22:41

  Should we gamble on belief in God to have a chance at infinite reward?
• 

  HoP 483 Between Infinity and the Void: Blaise Pascal

  12/28/2025

  20:13

  Blaise Pascal was a pioneering scientist and deeply spiritual religious thinker; what united these two sides of his thought?
• 

  HoP 482 Indivisible, Under God: the Revival of Atomism

  12/14/2025

  20:04

  Why did Sébastian Basso and Pierre Gassendi think ancient atomism was the key to developing a new, modern science?
• 

  HoP 481 True Fool’s Gold: Pierre Gassendi

  11/30/2025

  20:19

  Gassendi’s path from skepticism to “baptized Epicureanism.”