Philosophical Works · Chapter
XXXI explained
Descartes explains that errors arise not from God's deception but from the interplay of understanding and will.
What happens
Descartes explains that errors arise not from God's deception but from the interplay of understanding and will. Errors are mere negations from God's perspective, but privations from our own, as they depend on our will rather than on God's concurrence.
Themes in this chapter
Skepticism and Certainty
Descartes examines the source of error, distinguishing between the understanding and the will, and asserts that error is not caused by God but by the misuse of free will.
Free Will Identified as the Means to Avoid Error
The chapter emphasizes that errors depend on the will, not on God, and that by restraining the will within the bounds of clear and distinct perception, one can avoid error.
Characters to notice
- René Descartes
Author and philosopher explaining the origin of errors.
- God
Referred to as non-deceiver; errors are negations in respect to God.
Key passages
“But as it happens that we frequently fall into error, although God is no deceiver, if we desire to inquire into the origin and cause of our errors, with a view to guard against them, it is necessary to observe that they depend less on our understanding than on our will, and that they have no need of the actual concourse of God, in order to their production; so that, when considered in reference to God, they are merely negations, but in reference to ourselves, privations.”
Even though God does not deceive us, we often err. To understand and avoid errors, we must see that they arise more from our will than from our intellect, and God does not actively cause them. From God's viewpoint, errors are simply absences of truth, but from our viewpoint, they are lacks that we are responsible for.
Descartes distinguishes between the roles of understanding and will in error, and between the divine and human perspectives on error.