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Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme

(Encyclopedia)Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas Edme nëkôläˈ ĕdˈmə rĕstēfˈ də lä brətônˈ [key], 1734–1806, French novelist. A printer by trade, he wrote and published over 250 novels, mostly based on ...

occasionalism

(Encyclopedia)occasionalism, metaphysical doctrine that denies that finite things have any active power and asserts that God is the only cause, whereas physical events and mental states are only occasions for God's...

Soult, Nicolas Jean de Dieu

(Encyclopedia)Soult, Nicolas Jean de Dieu nēkôläˈ zhäN də dyö so͞olt [key], 1769–1851, marshal of France. Having won distinction in the Napoleonic Wars, especially at the battle of Austerlitz, he was crea...

Barras, Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de

(Encyclopedia)Barras, Paul François Jean Nicolas, vicomte de pōl fräNswäˈ zhäN nēkōläˈ, vēkôNtˈ də bäräˈ [key], 1755–1829, French revolutionary. Although of a noble family, he joined the Jacobins...

metaphysics

(Encyclopedia)metaphysics mĕtəfĭzˈĭks [key], branch of philosophy concerned with the ultimate nature of existence. It perpetuates the Metaphysics of Aristotle, a collection of treatises placed after the Physic...

Norris, John

(Encyclopedia)Norris, John, 1657–1711, English clergyman and philosopher. As the most prominent follower of Malebranche he wrote, in exposition of that philosopher's system, An Essay towards the Theory of the Ide...

Bodel, Jehan

(Encyclopedia)Bodel, Jehan zhäN bōdĕlˈ [key], b. c.1165, French trouvère of Arras. He is the author of one of the earliest dramas entirely in French, a mystery play entitled Le Jeu de Saint Nicolas (c.1200). ...

Sint-Niklaas

(Encyclopedia)Sint-Niklaas sĭnt-nēˈkläs [key], Fr. Saint-Nicolas, city (1991 pop. 68,203), East Flanders prov., N Belgium. It is the commercial, industrial, and transportation center of the Waas region, which h...

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