Nicolas Malebranche

I am not my own light unto myself.

Nicolas Malebranche (August 6, 1638 – October 13, 1715) was a rationalist French philosopher.

Quotes

• I am not my own light unto myself.
  • Dialogues on Metaphysics (1688) Dialogue III
  • Variant translation: I am not a light unto myself.

• I am unable, when I turn to myself, to recognize any of my faculties or my capacities. The inner sensation which I have of myself informs me that I am, that I think, that I will, that I have sensory awareness, that I suffer, and so on; but it provides me with no knowledge whatever of what I am — of the nature of my thought, my sensations, my passions, or my pain — or the mutual relations that obtain between all these things … I have no idea whatever of my soul.
  • Dialogues on Metaphysics (1688) Dialogue III

Quotes About

• As to bad faith, Malebranche might argue
  it rests with inattention. Stupidity
  is not admissible. However the status
  of apprehension remains an issue
  • Geoffrey Hill, The Triumph of Love XIV.1-4

External links

• "Nicolas Malebranche" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
  • "Malebranche's theory of ideas and vision of God"
• "Nicolas Malebranche" Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)
• Malebranche's Dialogues on Metaphysics