Lamy, Malebranche, and the Force of Rest: Reply to Nadler

In a recent issue of the Journal of the History of Philosophy , Steven Nadler draws attention to the neglected argument of François Lamy that Malebranche ’s doctrine of occasionalism conflicts with his own criticism of Descartes ’s appeal to a “force of rest ” in physics. Nadler claims that this argument is well worth considering insofar as its conclusion seems to be “absolutely correct. ” In this discussion note, I offer reasons to doubt that Lamy is in fact correct in charging that there is an internal tension on this point in Malebranche ’s system. I also briefly consider the significance of Malebranche ’s critique of Descartes for early modern Cartesian physics.