Passions et inclinations naturelles. Une cohabitation difficile

Passions and natural inclinations have a complex relationship in Malebranche's philosophy. If we examine his major work La Recherche de la vérité and his later works, we come to the conclusion that Malebranche's relationship between mind and body cannot effectively be described as an opposition between the Cartesian heritage and the influence of Augustine: the real conflict is not between the demands of the body and the demands of the mind, which are organized according to a clear hierarchy, but between the pursuit of self-preservation and the pursuit of happiness