MALEBRANCHIAN OCCASIONALISM, OR PHILOSOPHY IN THE GARDEN OF EDEN

Abstract

Philosophy of the first man before the fall, that is to say philosophy in the garden of Eden, was Malebranchian occasionalism. Had Adam persisted in his occasionalistic belief, the fall would not have come about - it was the 'fall' from occasionalism that brought about Adam's fall. Occasionalism was only possible upon God's suspension of certain laws of nature, in a word, it was possible only in Paradise. The fact that the most convinced occasionalistic philosopher, Adam, gave up his occasionalistic belief at the time when this belief was sustained by God's making an exception in the laws of nature in his favour clearly shows that the occasionalism could not survive even with God's support.