ABSTRACT
This conclusion sketches a more global picture of early modern German occasionalism. That is to say, the common ground of Weigel’s, Sturm’s, the young Wolff’s, and Ploucquet’s occasionalism: (1) thin essences, (2) the notion of substancehood in terms of independent existence, (3) a rejection of Aristotelian-scholastic philosophy, and (4) concerns about a truly Christian worldview. Besides the more philosophical quintessence of this book, this conclusion also shows which distinctive historical lessons can be learnt: (1) the main protagonists of this monograph remain understudied figures; (2) there is a direct line of reception leading from Weigel to Sturm, a more indirect line includes Ploucquet; (3) the four versions of occasionalism reflect the fate of occasionalism more globally; (4) occasionalism is not a consequence of Cartesianism sensu stricto; (5) all occasionalists studied in this book are university professors and occasionalism made its way into the early modern German academic system.
