Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. From nature to God; 2. Reading the ancients and reading Spinoza; 3. Reductio ad naturalismum; 4. The passion of Malebranche; 5. Creation and evil; Conclusion; Bibliography.

Promotional Information

This book shows how absolute naturalism, deciphering nature without reference to God, emerged from the inheritance, dynamics and debates of orthodox culture.

About the Author

Alan Charles Kors is the Henry Charles Lea Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania. He taught at the École Pratique des Hautes Études and the Folger Library. He is also co-founder of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. He published the Encyclopaedia of the Enlightenment (2003), Atheism in France, 1650–1729 (1990) and D'Holbach's Coterie: An Enlightenment in Paris (1976).

Reviews

'… indispensable … sure to fruitfully inspire many historians for years to come.' Jeffrey D. Burson, American Historical Review