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Descartes

Descartes. 4 th Meditation: Of Truth and Error. Explaining Error. If God is not a deceiver, then why do we make mistakes ? If God is perfect and he created us, how do we explain error?. Perfection. Absolute Perfection Relative Perfection. God created us perfect: Intellect.

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Descartes

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  1. Descartes 4th Meditation: Of Truth and Error

  2. Explaining Error • If God is not a deceiver, then why do we make mistakes? • If God is perfect and he created us, how do we explain error?

  3. Perfection • Absolute Perfection • Relative Perfection

  4. God created us perfect: Intellect • Intellect is perfect relative to the kind of being we are. • We are contingent beings. • We did not need to be omniscient and God created us with a less powerful intellect. • The intellect admits to degrees.

  5. God created us perfect: Will • God created us also with a perfect will. • However, because the will does not admit to degree, so that you either have it or not, God had to give us an infinite will. • Descartes argues that our will is like God’s in so far as we can will infinitely.

  6. Error • Human error is caused by having the combination of an infinite will and a perfect but limited intellect. • Error occurs when a human being wills to know what is outside the limits of his intellect’s capacity. • That is, when we make judgments about things that are outside the range of our intellects.

  7. Refraining from Error • Error, then, is the wrong use or misuse of our cognitive equipment. • Preventing error is within all of our capacities, because judgments are within our control. • Therefore, we can always abstain from making judgments about things we recognize to be outside our human abilities.

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