CHAPTER VII 



THE WRITERS WHO WITH DESCARTES GAVE RISE 

 TO THE CARTESIAN PHILOSOPHY. 



A GREAT and original thinker has always among 

 the brightest of his disciples, some, who whilst accept- 

 ing much of the new doctrine, add to or modify it 

 so as to change even its most prominent features. 

 In this manner at first BARUCH (or Benedict) 

 SPINOZA (1632-1677), in one direction, and later 

 NICHOLAS MALEBRANCHE (1638-1715) in the other, 

 changed and yet confirmed in its essentials the teach- 

 ing of Descartes, giving rise to what is now called 

 Cartesianism. Descartes' Metaphysics seemed often 

 to hang over the edge of Pantheism, yet always drew 

 back and avoided it. No doubt the fear of the results 

 that might be expected at the hands of the theolo- 

 gians kept him on the safer side. Spinoza had no 

 such fear. A Hebrew by birth and education, he 

 was born with an investigating mind ; he took pleas- 



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