Géraud de Cordemoy

Géraud de Cordemoy (6 October 1626 in Paris – 15 October 1684 in Paris) was a French philosopher, historian and lawyer. He is mainly known for his works in metaphysics and for his theory of language.

Géraud de Cordemoy was born in a family of ancient nobility coming from Auvergne (from the town of Royat). He was the third of four children. His father was a master in arts at the University of Paris named Géraud de Cordemoy who died when he was nine years old. His mother was named Nicole de Cordemoy. As for Géraud, he was a private tutor and a linguist and practised as a lawyer.

Géraud de Cordemoy used to haunt the philosophical circles of the capital; he made acquaintance with Emmanuel Maignan and Jacques Rohault. A friend and a protégé of Bossuet who admired Descartes too, Géraud de Cordemoy was appointed lecteur (tutor) to the Dauphin (son of King Louis XIV), at the same time as Fléchier. He was elected a member of Académie française in 1675.

Cordemoy is known primarily for having rethought the Cartesian theory of causality, introducing the notion of “occasional cause” within a system of thought which remains essentially Cartesian. He was, alongside Arnold Geulincx and Louis de La Forge, the founder of what is called “occasionalism”. Body and soul are distinct by essence, their combination is occasional, and it is God who allows that the will to move my arm, for example, is translated into a movement. My will is an occasional cause of the movement of my arm, God is the real cause of it. What is true for the body-an individual constituted by the distinct combination of body and soul- is true for every body in the universe. God is the real and universal cause of every movement.

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