Note 10. To the Subsection “Difference and Homogeneity between Sungsang and Hyungsang”
Nicolas de Malebranche (1638-1715) applied Geulincx’s occasionalistic idea to epistemological questions. If spirit and matter are kinds of substances that are totally different from each other, how can spirit recognize matter? Malebranche explained that in God there are eternal ideas as the prototypes of things and that in recognizing things, we do not recognize things directly, but rather we recognize the ideas within God. On this point he said, “We see all things in God.” The consequence of this view is that we are relating ourselves ultimately to God, and the significance of the existence of matter diminishes. See Takeo Iwasaki’ s History of Western Philosophy (in Japanese) (Tokyo, Yuhikaku, 1975), 147.