In the fourth mediation of René Descartes'
"Mediations on the First Philosophy" (titled:
"on truth and falsity") Descartes
investigates how it is that we can make mistakes. This should be understood in
relation to mediation 1
in which he doubted everything he knows and gave strong evidence to not being
able to trust our knowledge since we are always in possible error. Mediation 2+3 reconstructed
our assurance of reality but in now remains to be understood how is it that we
make mistakes. Since God is perfect (as suggested in mediation 3), he cannot be deceiving me (as
suggested in meditation 1). For the same reason, he could not have given me
some faculty of making mistakes (such as misjudging or misapprehension).
Similarly, nor could have he given me imperfect faculties for detecting the
truth. Finally, for Descartes it must be in God’s power to have made me such
that I never erred. Yet it is obvious that I do make mistakes. How is this? For
Descartes in meditation 4 it is because of a difference between the understanding
and the will. When I consider, I exercise my will, for I must choose what I am
to judge and want to do it and then my understanding, in making the judgement.
So long as I use my understanding correctly, I will never make mistakes, for
God has given me a faculty of clear and distinct perception (this is partly why
Descartes is credited with fathering science). Mistakes arise when my will
extends beyond my understanding: when I make a judgement without subjecting
what I am judging to my understanding. This is what occurs when we jump to
conclusions, trust appearances, and choose without thinking of the
consequences, for example. Should we say that God’s error lies in giving me
such a will? No, for God has given us free will, which is a sign of his
benevolence, and free will does not come in degrees, so it is not as if he
could have given us two faculties, the understanding and the will, whose limits
exactly coincide.
After devoting meditation 4 to explaining why we make mistakes and how
we can avoid them, Descartes' meditation 5 takes us to our relationship with the material
world (also questioned in meditation 1), where we meet God again.
back to: A summary by chapter of Descartes' Meditations
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See also: essential summary of Rene Descartes' Meditations
Descartes' arguments for the existence of God in Meditations
back to: A summary by chapter of Descartes' Meditations
-
See also: essential summary of Rene Descartes' Meditations
Descartes' arguments for the existence of God in Meditations
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Suggested reading on Renè Descartes:
