CORDEMOY, GÉRAUD de. – French philosopher and historian, born in Paris around 1620, died there on 8 October 1684. In the work Discernement de l’âme et du corps (Paris 1666), drawing inspiration from the Cartesian dualism of res extensa and res cogitans, he went so far as to deny any genuine activity both to the soul and to the body without the intervention of God as the true cause of all phenomena. This doctrine, developed by A. Geulincx, may be regarded as the first enunciation of occasionalism, although Malebranche did not know of his two precursors.
As a historian, C., having become tutor to the Dauphin through the agency of Bossuet, began for his pupil a Histoire de Charlemagne, which later became a Histoire de France depuis le temps des Gaulois et le commencement de la monarchie jusqu'en 787, published posthumously by his son Louis in 2 vols. (Paris 1685).