occasionalist
- adjective
- /əˈkeɪʒənəlɪst/
- Specialized
:
ocasionalista
- Philosophers discussing free will often refer to the concept of occasionalist views, emphasizing that God is the sole cause of events.
Examples
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In the realm of natural philosophy, the rise of voluntaristic conceptions of God, along with a trend towards occasionalist understandings of causation, gave rise to the notion of divinely ordained, externally imposed laws of nature.
Academic text (2006) -
In the Theodicy (para. 395), for example, in the course of opposing occasionalist claims, Leibniz denies that the production of modifications involves creation:
Academic text (1998) -
Malebranche is known for his occasionalist philosophy, which argues that only divine intervention can produce change in the world.
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The lecture on metaphysics covered the occasionalist doctrine, highlighting how God is seen as the ultimate cause of all actions.
Surface Forms
Morphology
occasionalist = occasional (opaque) = occasion + al + ist
The adjective 'occasional' plus the productive suffix '-ist' forms a regular derived adjective/noun shape.
Etymology
Occasionalist comes from occasion, a common word for a 'moment' or 'chance' (from Latin occasio meaning 'a falling toward'). In philosophy, an occasionalist view says God causes events on each separate 'occasion', so the adjective describes ideas that see God as the true cause.
