Malebranche’s Ethics

Abstract

This chapter offers an overview of Malebranche's ethics, focusing on his Traité de Morale (1684). Ethics is the regimented pursuit of happiness in a mind perfected in its rightful relation to God. The centerpiece of Malebranche's position is his account of virtue as the “love of Order,” which he highlights as a “free love,” as opposed to the “natural love” by which the will is moved to seek any kind of pleasure. Because postlapsarian human beings fall short of this standard, their actions must be regulated by knowledge of their duties—to God, to other human beings, and to self—which articulate specific requirements on willing. The chapter concludes by underlining the distinctively Christian focus of Malebranche's ethics: his claim that blessedness is impossible to achieve through the natural capacities of the mind but requires in addition the reception of divine grace conveyed through Jesus Christ.