Arnold Geulincx


Geulincx, Arnold

 

Born Jan. 31, 1624, in Antwerp; died 1669 in Leiden. Dutch idealist philosopher. Professor of philosophy at the universities of Lou vain (1646-58) and Leiden (beginning in 1665).

The problems studied in Geulincx’s philosophy were formulated under the influence of R. Descartes. As one of the main representatives of occasionalism, Geulincx showed that interaction of soul and body was not possible, comparing them to two clocks whose motion was originally coordinated by god (later, G. W. Leibniz used this example for the theory of pre-established harmony).

WORKS

Gno‘tti se auton sive Ethica. [n. p.] 1675.
Physica vera. [n. p.] 1688.
Metaphysica vera .… Amsterdam, 1691.
Opera philosophica, vols 1-3. [n. p.] 1891-93.

REFERENCES

Istoriia filosofii, vol. I, Moscow, 1957. Pages 406-08.
Vleeschauwer, H. J. de. Three Centuries of Geulincx Research: A Bibliographical Survey. Pretoria, 1957.
Lattre, A. de. L’occasionalisme d’A. Geulincx. Paris, 1967.

V. V. SOKOLOV