Occasionalism is one of the philosophical currents that understand the body and the mind as separate entities . That is, it is a dualistic perspective that questions the possibility that body and mind are equally constitutive elements of the human being.

In this article we explain in an introductory way what dualism is, and what the perspective we call occasionalism is about.

Descartes’ dualistic thinking

Dualism is a philosophical position based on the idea that the mind and the body are two separate entities. In other words, that the mind does not feel, just as the body does not think. Descartes came to doubt everything but his ability to think , so that what the body felt remained in the background.

Rene Descartes is generally recognized as the greatest exponent of modern dualism, since he was the first philosopher to oppose the reality of the mind with that of the body (the brain).

For him, the mind exists independently of the body , with which it has a substance of its own. This substance, in Descartes’ religious-scientific context, can be of three types: interactionist (the one that allows mental processes to have effects on the body); parallelist (mental causes only have mental effects that pretend to be physical, but are not); and finally a substance of the occasionalist type, which we will explain below.

Occasionalism: An Explanation of Causality

For Descartes, the occasional substance is the one that does not allow the interaction between the material and the immaterial terrain. The relationship between these is impossible, because there is an external entity that makes the events that we understand as “cause-effect”, occur . This entity is God, and it is only through his intervention that the mind and body can be connected.

Thus, occasionalism is a philosophical position that, in addition to establishing that the mind and the body are separate; it also establishes that nothing we perceive as a “cause-effect” relationship is really linked to a cause outside of God .

The causes are nothing but the occasion for God to produce certain facts, which we have called “effects”. For example, in a relationship A->B; event A is not a cause, but is the occasion for God to produce event B, which is what we live and translate as “the effect”.

What we know as “cause” is only apparent, it is always occasional (that is, it depends on the concrete opportunity). In turn, the event we perceive as an effect, is the result of God’s decision . Thus, the true cause is always hidden from our knowledge. As it is given in advance by God, and by the occasion that presents itself to him; we, human beings, cannot know it, we can simply experience it, in the form of an effect.

But, remembering that God, the mind and knowledge in this era were closely related, what this means is that, for the occasional, our mental processes, beliefs, thoughts, intentions, do not generate attitudes, emotions or behaviors; rather, the congruence between these processes is facilitated by a divine entity.

We human beings cannot know this divine entity completely , it has vision and its own will, and from there it moves all material things.

Nicolas Malebranche, key author

The French philosopher Nicolas Malebranche is one of the greatest exponents of occasionalism. He lived between 1628 and 1715 and is recognised as one of the most representative intellectuals of the Enlightenment .

Initially, Malebranche followed the dualistic postulates of Descartes’ rationalism, which were being developed in a century where reason was closely combined with religious beliefs. Science, philosophy and Christianity were not completely separated from each other, as they are now.

Within his postulates, Malebranche tried to reconcile Descartes’ thoughts with those of St. Augustine , and in this way demonstrate that God’s active role in all aspects of the world could be demonstrated through the doctrine we call “Occasionalism”.

Although he tried to distance himself from Descartes’ proposals, there are several contemporary philosophers who consider that he should be considered within his own tradition, as well as together with Spinoza and Leibniz. However, other authors consider Malebranche’s thought to be more radical than Descartes’. The latter considered that at some point, body and soul were connected, and this point was the pineal gland.

Malebranche, on the other hand, considered that body and soul are completely independent entities, and that if there is a connection between them, it is because there is a divine entity that makes it possible. Thus, God is the cause of everything that happens in “reality” . Causes are occasions for God, God is the only cause, and through this is how we humans know the world.

In other words, for Malebranche, the only true cause of everything that exists is God, so that everything we perceive as an “effect of something” is nothing more than a moment or opportunity from God to provoke or to get that something.

Bibliographic references:

  • The Basics of Philosophy (2018). Philosophy of mind. Retrieved May 27, 2018. Available at https://www.philosophybasics.com/philosophers_malebranche.html