Full Idea
In the seventeenth century the dominant idea that causation is collisionlike made mental causation almost impossible to envision.
Gist of Idea
In the 17th century a collisionlike view of causation made mental causation implausible
Source
Owen Flanagan (The Problem of the Soul [2002], p.136)
Book Reference
Flanagan,Owen: 'The Problem of the Soul' [Basic Books 2003], p.136
A Reaction
Interesting. This makes Descartes' interaction theory look rather bold, and Leibniz's and Malebranche's rejection of it understandable. Personally I still think of causation as collisionlike, except that the collisions are of very very tiny objects.