Meditation IV: Overall Summary

Here Descartes tries to build upon the foundations of his previous arguments. Through the trademark argument, the cogito, the notion of clear and distinct ideas and the doctrine of innate ideas, Descartes has formed the basis for further certainties. However, there is still the problem of how it is that we come to make mistakes and errors of judgement.

In this meditation, therefore, Descartes attempts three main things: to explain why we fall into error, to show that God is not responsible for this, and to indicate how we may avoid these errors in the future.

The Arguments:

The Cause of Error

In looking for the cause of error, Descartes first rejects the idea of God as a cause since He is not a deceiver (as was previously proven).

Next, he considers whether his own faculty of judgement is responsible, which he finds is more likely. However, this gives him a problem: how can God have created him with a faulty faculty of judgement?

His answer to this is simply to say that God's reasons for allowing us to err are (as human beings) beyond our understanding, and that we would need to view this fact in the context of the rest of His creation (within which it might have some good purpose).

Faulty Faculties

What, then, is responsible for error? Descartes considers the two faculties of will and understanding: the understanding is limited and finite; the will, however, is as perfect as it could be (we can always say 'yes' or 'no', or refrain from judging). Therefore, Descartes concludes, errors of judgement occur when the will assents to things which are beyond the scope of the understanding. So, Descartes argues that we must try to be 'indifferent' to things about which there is some doubt, so that when we are presented with a clear and distinct perception, it will 'force' itself upon us (and overcome our indifference). This doesn't mean that we will have no choice, but merely that clear and distinct perceptions supply strong reasons to believe something (whereas confused and unclear perceptions leave us 'indifferent').

However, there still remains the question of why God does not limit the will, make the understanding more powerful, or even give us a tendency to withhold judgement from unclear perceptions. Again, Descartes says, God has good reasons for making human beings the way they are (even though we may not understand them). Furthermore, since our will is perfect enough to withhold judgement from things which we do not understand, we cannot blame God for the mistakes we make.

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