 Malebranche developed this last point in his 1680 Traité de la nature et de la grâce (Treatise on Nature and Grace). He published this work over the objections of the Jansenist theologian and Cartesian philosopher Antoine Arnauld (1612–1694), who was disturbed by what he saw as Malebranche’s denial of the assertion in the Scriptures and the tradition of God’s attention to particular details in matters of grace. Arnauld responded to the publication of Nature et grâce by engaging in open combat, and the ensuing battle became one of the major intellectual events of the day. His opening salvo was the 1683 Des vraies et des fausses idées (On True and False Ideas), which attacks not Nature et grâce but rather the Recherche (see Arnauld 1683). Arnauld’s strategy here was to undermine Malebranche’s influence in theological matters by revealing the inadequacy of his philosophical views. In particular, he attacked Malebranche’s assumption that ideas are “representative beings” distinct from our perceptions, offering instead the position, which he plausibly ascribed to Descartes, that ideas are simply a feature of the perceptual modifications of our soul. This argument reflects a sympathy for Descartes’ views that dates back to Arnauld’s set of comments on the Meditations.