Descartes Meditation IV

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Meditation 4

• Descartes feels he's shown
  • I am a thinking thing, which is without extension, and this is more clear and distinct than my body
  • God exists, and is benevolent and would not deceive me: "... it is impossible for God ever to deceive me, for trickery and deception is always indicative of some imperfection."
• But then, why is there error?
  • Error is judgment that is incorrect
  • God would not deceive, so the world does not appear falsely
  • God would not make something imperfect, so why is my judgment (of the undeceptive world) imperfect?
• Two caveats
  1. I may not understand what God is up to
  2. The whole may be perfect but parts may appear imperfect
• An explanation
  • Error is in judgments, and judgments are the product of intellect and of will
  • Through the intellect I perceive (understand) ideas
  • Through the will I (among other things) assert that a perceived idea corresponds with something in the world
  • God gave me a limited intellect: I can conceptualize God's perfect intellect, and see my is far inferior
  • By the way: God is not imperfect for having given me a limited intellect, because God gave me a sufficient intellect for a good life
  • My will is as great as God's, because the will is just the faculty of choosing to do or not do something. Will cannot be "divided," it is a simple, so God made no mistake in giving me a will like God's own
  • There is no error in my capability of intellect, and no error in my capability of will, but when I apply will to the intellect, I may make mistakes: I do always not "contain the will"
  • If I judged only matters that were clear and distinct, I would be always right, but I sometimes will to judge matters that are not clear and distinct
  • Even if my own intellect is very limited, I can at least avoid error by not willing to assert anything not clear and distinct