Descartes, the Cartesian Circle, and Epistemology Without God
Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (1):1-33 (2005)
| Abstract | This paper defends an interpretation of Descartes according to which he sees us as having normative (and not merely psychological) certainty of all clear and distinct ideas during the period in which they are apprehended clearly and distinctly. However, on this view, a retrospective doubt about clear and distinct ideas is possible. This interpretation allows Descartes to avoid the Cartesian Circle in an effective way and also shows that Descartes is surprisingly, in some respects, an epistemological externalist. The paper goes on to defend this interpretation against some powerful philosophical objections by Margaret WiIson and others by showing how Descartes’ doctrine of the creation of the eternal truths can be brought in to support his epistemology. This doctrine and other analogous positions in Descartes can also reveal that Descartes, again surprisingly, takes important steps toward doing epistemology without direct appeal to God and God’s veracity | |||||||||
| Keywords | No keywords specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Categories | No categories specified (fix it) | |||||||||
| Options |
|
|||||||||
Download options| PhilPapers Archive |
Upload a copy of this paper Check publisher's policy on self-archival Papers currently archived: 5,705 |
| External links |
 |
| Through your library | Configure |
Similar books and articlesMichael Della Rocca (2005). Descartes, the Cartesian Circle, and Epistemology Without God. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 70 (1):1–33.
Dale Jacquette (1996). Descartes' Lumen Naturale and the Cartesian Circle. Philosophy and Theology 9 (3-4):273-320.
Husain Sarkar (2003). Descartes' Cogito: Saved From the Great Shipwreck. Cambridge University Press.
Ewing Y. Chinn (1983). A Journey Around the Cartesian Circle. Philosophy Research Archives 9:279-292.
Ruth Weintraub (1997). The Cartesian Circle and Two Forms of Scepticism. History of Philosophy Quarterly 14 (4):365 - 377.
John J. Conley (1994). The Silence of Descartes. Philosophy and Theology 8 (3):199-212.
Alice Sowaal (2011). Descartes's Reply to Gassendi: How We Can Know All of God, All at Once, but Still Have More to Learn About Him. British Journal for the History of Philosophy 19 (3):419 - 449.
Georges Dicker (1993). Descartes: An Analytical and Historical Introduction. Oxford University Press.
Samuel C. Rickless (2005). The Cartesian Fallacy Fallacy. Noûs 39 (2):309–336.
M. T. (2003). Cartesian Causation: Body-Body Interaction, Motion, and Eternal Truths. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part A 34 (4):737-762.
R. J. Butler (1972). Cartesian Studies. Oxford,B. Blackwell.
David Scott (2010). Resemblance as a Principle of Representation in Descartes' Philosophy. American Catholic Philosophical Quarterly 84 (3):483-512.
Andrew Pessin (2010). Divine Simplicity and the Eternal Truths: Descartes and the Scholastics. Philosophia 38 (1).
Dan Kaufman (2003). Infimus Gradus Libertatis? Descartes on Indifference and Divine Freedom. Religious Studies 39 (4):391-406.
Analytics
Monthly downloads |
Added to index2012-03-18Total downloads7 ( #133,587 of 549,533 )Recent downloads (6 months)1 ( #63,397 of 549,533 )How can I increase my downloads? |
My notes
Discussion
