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Single Idea 4301

[filed under theme 3. Truth / A. Truth Problems / 8. Subjective Truth ]

Full Idea

Leibniz objected to Descartes' theory of truth, saying that people may think something is clear and distinct, and yet be wrong.

Gist of Idea

Someone may think a thing is 'clear and distinct', but be wrong

Source

comment on René Descartes (Meditations [1641], §3.36) by Gottfried Leibniz - works

Book Ref

Cottingham,John: 'The Rationalists' [OUP 1988], p.49

A Reaction

Quite so. Descartes has misunderstood what sort of concept 'truth' is meant to be. It's the usual confusion of epistemology and metaphysics. Truth is not a feature of the human mind.

The 115 ideas from 'Meditations'

7504 Modern science comes from Descartes' view that knowledge doesn't need moral purity [Descartes, by Foucault]
2857 Since Plato all philosophers have followed the herd, except Descartes, stuck in superficial reason [Nietzsche on Descartes]
1569 Descartes impoverished the classical idea of logos, and it no longer covered human experience [Roochnik on Descartes]
17865 Descartes gives an essence by an encapsulating formula [Descartes, by Almog]
6929 Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God [Descartes, by Feuerbach]
6490 For Descartes, objects have one primary quality, which is geometrical [Descartes, by Robinson,H]
6153 Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy [Rowlands on Descartes]
4017 Descartes created the modern view of rationality, as an internal feature instead of an external vision [Descartes, by Taylor,C]
16631 If we remove surface qualities from wax, we have an extended, flexible, changeable thing [Descartes]
10054 Arithmetic and geometry achieve some certainty without worrying about existence [Descartes]
1585 Descartes tried to model reason on maths instead of 'logos' [Roochnik on Descartes]
6347 Descartes can't begin again, because sceptics doubt cognitive processes as well as beliefs [Pollock/Cruz on Descartes]
2247 To achieve good science we must rebuild from the foundations [Descartes]
1582 Labelling slightly doubtful things as false is irrational [Roochnik on Descartes]
2248 Reason says don't assent to uncertain principles, just as much as totally false ones [Descartes]
2249 It is prudent never to trust your senses if they have deceived you even once [Descartes]
3620 We correct sense errors with other senses, not intellect [Mersenne on Descartes]
3619 The senses can only report, so perception errors are in the judgment [Gassendi on Descartes]
2251 Even if my body and objects are imaginary, there may be simpler things which are true [Descartes]
2252 Surely maths is true even if I am dreaming? [Descartes]
2253 God may have created nothing, but made his creation appear to me as it does now [Descartes]
2254 To achieve full scepticism, I imagine a devil who deceives me about the external world and my own body and senses [Descartes]
3850 We discovers others as well as ourselves in the Cogito [Sartre on Descartes]
3849 "I think therefore I am" is the absolute truth of consciousness [Sartre on Descartes]
2255 Only one certainty is needed for progress (like a lever's fulcrum) [Descartes]
2256 Maybe there is only one certain fact, which is that nothing is certain [Descartes]
2257 I myself could be the author of all these self-delusions [Descartes]
2258 I must even exist if I am being deceived by something [Descartes]
2259 "I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind [Descartes]
3160 The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge [Rey on Descartes]
1117 The Cogito proves subjective experience is basic, but makes false claims about the Self [Russell on Descartes]
5360 The thing which experiences may be momentary, and change with the next experience [Russell on Descartes]
2870 'I think' assumes I exist, that thinking is known and caused, and that I am doing it [Nietzsche on Descartes]
5188 A thought doesn't imply other thoughts, or enough thoughts to make up a self [Ayer on Descartes]
3623 The Cogito only works if you already understand what thought and existence are [Mersenne on Descartes]
3624 That I perform an activity (thinking) doesn't prove what type of thing I am [Hobbes on Descartes]
3120 Autistic children seem to use the 'I' concept without seeing themselves as thinkers [Segal on Descartes]
4526 The Cogito assumes a priori the existence of substance, when actually it is a grammatical custom [Nietzsche on Descartes]
5579 How can we infer that all thinking involves self-consciousness, just from my own case? [Kant on Descartes]
5580 My self is not an inference from 'I think', but a presupposition of it [Kant on Descartes]
5587 We cannot give any information a priori about the nature of the 'thing that thinks' [Kant on Descartes]
5588 The fact that I am a subject is not enough evidence to show that I am a substantial object [Kant on Descartes]
2873 Maybe 'I' am not the thinker, but something produced by thought [Nietzsche on Descartes]
1369 It is a precondition of the use of the word 'I' that I exist [Ayer on Descartes]
2260 If I don't think, there is no reason to think that I exist [Descartes]
3625 The 'thinking thing' may be the physical basis of the mind [Hobbes on Descartes]
2261 My perceiving of things may be false, but my seeming to perceive them cannot be false [Descartes]
2263 The wax is not perceived by the senses, but by the mind alone [Descartes]
3628 Substance cannot be conceived or explained to others [Gassendi on Descartes]
3627 Dogs can make the same judgements as us about variable things [Gassendi on Descartes]
2264 We don't 'see' men in heavy clothes, we judge them to be men [Descartes]
2265 We perceive objects by intellect, not by senses or imagination [Descartes]
2266 My general rule is that everything that I perceive clearly and distinctly is true [Descartes]
4301 Someone may think a thing is 'clear and distinct', but be wrong [Leibniz on Descartes]
5685 True ideas are images, such as of a man, a chimera, or God [Descartes]
5686 In some thoughts I grasp a subject, but also I will or fear or affirm or deny it [Descartes]
3629 All ideas are adventitious, and come from the senses [Gassendi on Descartes]
2268 One idea leads to another, but there must be an initial idea that contains the reality of all the others [Descartes]
2430 I can learn the concepts of duration and number just from observing my own thoughts [Descartes]
2269 God the creator is an intelligent, infinite, powerful substance [Descartes]
2272 There must be at least as much in the cause as there is in the effect [Descartes]
1400 Some cause must unite the separate temporal sections of a person [Descartes]
2273 The ideas of God and of my self are innate in me [Descartes]
2274 The idea of God in my mind is like the mark a craftsman puts on his work [Descartes]
2275 It is self-evident that deception is a natural defect, so God could not be a deceiver [Descartes]
2276 The mind is a non-extended thing which thinks [Descartes]
2278 Error arises because my faculty for judging truth is not infinite [Descartes]
2277 Since God does not wish to deceive me, my judgement won't make errors if I use it properly [Descartes]
2281 If we ask whether God's works are perfect, we must not take a narrow viewpoint, but look at the universe as a whole [Descartes]
2280 Many causes are quite baffling, so it is absurd to deduce causes from final purposes [Descartes]
2282 My capacity to make choices with my free will extends as far as any faculty ever could [Descartes]
2283 Our 'will' just consists of the feeling that when we are motivated to do something, there are no external pressures [Descartes]
2284 I make errors because my will extends beyond my understanding [Descartes]
3636 God didn't give us good judgement even about our own lives [Gassendi on Descartes]
2285 I can think of innumerable shapes I have never experienced [Descartes]
2279 A triangle has a separate non-invented nature, shown by my ability to prove facts about it [Descartes]
2286 The idea of a supremely perfect being is within me, like the basic concepts of mathematics [Descartes]
3632 We mustn't worship God as an image because we have no idea of him [Hobbes on Descartes]
3633 We can never conceive of an infinite being [Gassendi on Descartes]
2287 Existence and God's essence are inseparable, like a valley and a mountain, or a triangle and its properties [Descartes]
5036 Descartes cannot assume that a most perfect being exists without contradictions [Leibniz on Descartes]
2288 I cannot think of a supremely perfect being without the supreme perfection of existence [Descartes]
3638 Existence is not a perfection; it is what makes perfection possible [Gassendi on Descartes]
2289 Nothing apart from God could have essential existence, and such a being must be unique and eternal [Descartes]
2290 Once it is clear that there is a God who is no deceiver, I conclude that clear and distinct perceptions must be true [Descartes]
3641 It is circular to make truth depend on believing God's existence is true [Arnauld on Descartes]
4524 Descartes is right that in the Christian view only God can guarantee the reliability of senses [Nietzsche on Descartes]
1399 Imagination and sensation are non-essential to mind [Descartes]
2294 I can only sense an object if it is present, and can't fail to sense it when it is [Descartes]
2295 Why does pain make us sad? [Descartes]
2296 If pain is felt in a lost limb, I cannot be certain that a felt pain exists in my real limbs [Descartes]
3642 Pythagoras' Theorem doesn't cease to be part of the essence of triangles just because we doubt it [Arnauld on Descartes]
2297 If I can separate two things in my understanding, then God can separate them in reality [Descartes]
1401 Since I only observe myself to be thinking, I conclude that that is my essence [Descartes]
2299 I can exist without imagination and sensing, but they can't exist without me [Descartes]
2298 Mind is not extended, unlike the body [Descartes]
3423 Descartes is a substance AND property dualist [Descartes, by Kim]
2552 Knowing different aspects of brain/mind doesn't make them different [Rorty on Descartes]
4305 Descartes gives no clear criterion for individuating mental substances [Cottingham on Descartes]
4861 Does Descartes have a clear conception of how mind unites with body? [Spinoza on Descartes]
4862 Can the pineal gland be moved more slowly or quickly by the mind than by animal spirits? [Spinoza on Descartes]
2301 We know by thought that what is done cannot be undone [Descartes]
2303 The mind is utterly indivisible [Descartes]
2302 Faculties of the mind aren't parts, as one mind uses them [Descartes]
2305 Waking actions are joined by memory to all our other actions, unlike actions of which we dream [Descartes]
3151 Descartes put thought at the centre of the mind problem, but we put sensation [Rey on Descartes]
6907 For Descartes a person's essence is the mind because objects are perceived by mind, not senses [Descartes, by Feuerbach]
6914 Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist' [Descartes, by Feuerbach]
4641 In the Meditations version of the Cogito he says "I am; I exist", which avoids presenting it as an argument [Descartes, by Baggini /Fosl]
13923 Descartes' claim to know his existence before his essence is misleading or absurd [Descartes, by Lowe]
6930 Modern self-consciousness is a doubtful abstraction; only senses and feelings are certain [Feuerbach on Descartes]
21800 Descartes mentions many cognitive faculties, but reduces them to will and intellect [Descartes, by Schmid]
6540 Even Descartes may concede that mental supervenes on neuroanatomical [Lycan on Descartes]
20190 Belief is not an intellectual state or act, because propositions are affirmed or denied by the will [Descartes, by Zagzebski]
7733 Superman's strength is indubitable, Clark Kent's is doubtful, so they are not the same? [Maslin on Descartes]