Descartes’ Fourth Meditation

Start: 3rd Meditation establishes that

1. God can’t deceive me since all deceits point to imperfection (malice or

feeble-mindedness)
2. Now error results from judging
3. So:
1/ faculty of judging must be infallible as long as I use it correctly
2/ blame for errors must be on me, not on God

Explanation:

Since humans are in possession of

1/ the idea of God (infinite being): positive idea

2/ and nothingness: negative idea,

Error results from the lack of infinite faculty of judging, not from some mistake-
making faculty

Descartes next considers an objection:

If God is perfect, he should create me with a perfect faculty of judging

This objection is rejected by Descartes:

1. I don’t understand all of God’s reasons

2. Perfection may belong to the whole universe
3. Error results from the operation of 2 causes:
1/ faculty of acquiring knowledge (intellect)
2/ faculty of choosing (free will)
4. Intellect is limited (because God need not give me every perfection)
5. Free will is unlimited (though not as effective as God’s in itself – as a pure
ability to affirm or deny -- is equal to God’s)
6. This unlimited freedom doesn’t make it stronger as the will is more perfect
when informed by knowledge (like through God’s grace)
7. Conclusion:
a. the origin of errors lies in the range of the will being greater than that
of the intellect making me extend it to the matters that I don’t
understand and remain indifferent to them (p.42).
b. The right use of my will is when I refrain from passing judgements
when I don’t see the truth clearly and distinctly.
c. Error is privation consisting of the wrong use of free choice, not in the
faculty itself
8. Consequently:
a. God is not to be blamed for giving us an erroneous faculty
b. God is not to be blamed for giving us a finite intellect
c. God is not to be blamed for giving us the will broader than the
intellect
d. God is not to be blamed for cooperating with me in error
i. On God’s part error is a negation (absence of cause), not
privation (absence of a specific form of a cause)
9. Conclusion of the 4th Meditation:
a. I won’t make a mistake if I keep my will under control, so it passes a
judgement only in items that are clearly and distinctly represented to
me by the intellect
b. By the reason that clear and distinct perception derive from God and
God is incompatible with deception