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Error (part II)

‘I know by experience that I am prone to countless errors’
‘... [W]hat ... is the source of my mistakes?

\citep[p.~38; AT VII: 54]{descartes:1985_csm2}

Fourth Meditation

 

The intellect is the faculty of representation.

The will is what affirms or denies something represented

Judgement occurs when the intellect represents something which the will affirms (or denies).

The intellect is incapable of error (it merely represents).

Error occurs when the will affirms (or deines) incorrectly.

What should the will not affirm?

When the will affirms, what makes it correct or incorrect?

To be correct is to affirm those of the intellect’s representions which are correct.

Objection: All errors are consequences of the will.

To be correct is to affirm those of the intellect’s representions which are clear and distinct.

‘If [...] I simply refrain from making a judgement in cases where I do not perceive the truth with sufficient clarity and distinctness, then [....]I am behaving correctly and avoiding error.’

‘I know by experience that I am prone to countless errors’
‘... [W]hat ... is the source of my mistakes?

\citep[p.~38; AT VII: 54]{descartes:1985_csm2}

Fourth Meditation

 

The intellect is the faculty of representation.

The will is what affirms or denies something represented

Judgement occurs when the intellect represents something which the will affirms (or denies).

The intellect is incapable of error (it merely represents).

Error occurs when the will affirms (or deines) incorrectly.

So now we know what Descartes says on What should the will not affirm?

‘I can avoid error [...] merely [... by] remembering to withhold judgement on any occasion when the truth of the matter is not clear.’

\citep[p.~43; AT VII: 62]{descartes:1985_csm2}

Fourth Meditation

Here I can avoid error by not judging that what looks like a person is a person.
Not going to ask question yet ... postpone it

Can Descartes’ strategy enable you to avoid error?

‘in practical life
it is sometimes necessary to act upon opinons which one knows to be quite uncertain just as if they were indubitable’

Discourse on Method

\citep[p.~126 AT 6:31]{descartes:1985_csm1}

In devoting ‘myself soley to the search for truth
... I resolved to
pretend
that all the things that had ever
entered my mind were no more true
that the illusions of my dreams’

Discourse on Method

Can Descartes’ strategy enable you to avoid error in the search for truth?

1. What is it for a representation to be clear and distinct?

2. Why think representations which are not clear and distinct do not yield knowledge (except accidentally)?

3. Why think clear and distinct perceptions do yield knowledge?

P.S.

Descartes says his method can also enable him to know the truth! This is surely a step too far.

‘today I have learned not only what precautions to take to avoid ever going wrong,

but also what to do to arrive at the truth.

For I shall unquestionably reach the truth, if only I give sufficient attention to all the things which I perfectly understand, and separate these from all the other cases where my apprehension is more confused and obscure’

\citep[p.~43; AT VII: 62]{descartes:1985_csm2}

Fourth Meditation