Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Between Faith and Reason: A Cartesian Experience

-          Wrendolf C. Juntilla

Introduction
The need to be conscientious of our beliefs is one of the most fundamental exigencies of human life (Zagzebski 2009, p. 9). This is precisely so because one cannot help but believe at least in something. We have to have beliefs in order to make sense of our experiences and of our life in general. If these beliefs were untrue we would have to entrust our lives in lies. Surely, this is something which we do not want, for the conviction that our beliefs are true is always corollary in the act of believing. Thus, if beliefs are fundamentally connected to life, we must be able to trust that they are true. Anyone who is lead to believe that there is nothing in this life worth believing is a miserable person, indeed.
                In an environment where trust in reason was beginning to flourish, where the successes of the sciences were shaping a new attitude of distrust to religious truths, and where people were being caught between the old and the new system of beliefs and tradition, the need to establish firm and true beliefs had been so demanding. One can simply imagine the confusion it had brought and the temptation it had offered to suspend beliefs either in reason or in faith. Skepticism in this environ was lurking. This was the kind of atmosphere that Rene Descartes lived and felt (Sorell, 1987).
                Conscientious and a Catholic Christian as he is, Descartes, too, felt the demand to establish firm and true beliefs (Descartes, 1980, p. 57, par. 17). But like many other intellectuals in his time, he, too, is sandwiched between religion and science, neither of which he wanted to give up. Thus, the challenged he posed upon himself was to address skepticism by “establishing what is firm and lasting in the sciences” while remaining consistent to the truths about faith and morals, particularly on the teachings about God and the Soul. He believed that faith and reason are both indispensible to be rejected. His letter to the theologians of Paris whom he dedicated his Meditations expressed his conviction to give a defense on faith but by the use of natural reason. He wrote:
“I have always been of the opinion that the two questions respecting God and the Soul were the chief of those that ought to be determined by help of Philosophy rather than of Theology; for although to us, the faithful, it be sufficient to hold as matters of faith, that the human soul does not perish with the body, and that God exists, it yet assuredly seems impossible ever to persuade infidels of the reality of any religion, or almost even any moral virtue, unless, first of all, those two things be proved to them by natural reason.” (1980, p. 45, par. 2)
                This paper will present an exposition of how Descartes had taken up these challenges in his Meditations particularly in Meditations 1, 2, 3, and 5, where he entertained skepticism and endeavoured to solve it, built his anthropology, and sought to prove God’s existence. After which, a critique will be provided: one on his epistemology, the other on his proof of God’s existence, and the last on his attempt to reconcile faith and reason, one which the I believe to be the most explicit in his Meditations. Later, I will try to support the claim that the necessity to prove God’s existence in dealing with skepticism, as Descartes had noted, is more than an attempt to make argumentation plausible; rather, it is an attempt to aid reason with faith along with the recognition of our finitude and our need for the Absolute.

Meditation 1: Concerning Those Things That Can Be Called into Doubt
                Descartes realized that if he were to save the sciences from the lurking of skepticism, he should entertain skepticism himself (p. 57, par. 18). To do this he must withhold his assent to everything he had once believed, even God and himself, until he could find that which is certain and indubitable which shall become the foundation of the sciences. This would have been difficult for him had he not proposed plausible sceptical arguments as aides in his plunging into the dark state of doubting.
                First, he proposes that it is difficult to distinguish sleeping from being awake because the things that he believed he experienced while he was awake were also the things that appeared in his dream. This notion indicates already his long standing assumption that experience is incoherent, uncertain, unreliable, and incapable of giving us eternal truths. This is precisely his critique against empiricists who champions the reliability of the sense experience (Sorell, 1987). Descartes would suggest that our common sense view of the world is always subject to error and falsity; hence, it is unreliable. He would later use this notion to justify why it is important to view the world using the lenses of geometry and mathematics. This is supported by the claim, following from his dream argument, that whether in a waking life or in a dream certain qualities of things like extension, number, and duration – qualities which are precisely the objects of geometry and mathematics – remain immune from uncertainty (Descartes, 1980, p. 20, par. 28).
However, this immunity is only to the extent that he has ideas of these clear and distinct qualities. It still remains uncertain whether these qualities exist on the things he perceives and whether things themselves exist. So, he pushes the sceptical hypothesis a little further. It would be in a form of an Evil Genius who is constantly deceiving him of everything. This time it would be pointless to believe that qualities of things mentioned above which were deemed immune from uncertainty can still retain their privilege status. It seems then that with the presence of the Evil Genius, nothing whatsoever is certain.

Meditation 2:  Concerning the Nature of the Human Mind: That the Mind is More Known than the Body
After having persuaded himself to doubt everything, even his own existence, he asked:
 “Was I not, therefore, at the same time, persuaded that I did not exist? Far from it; I assuredly existed, since I was persuaded… Doubtless, then, I exist, since I am deceived; and, let him deceive me as he may, he can never bring it about that I am nothing, so long as I shall be conscious that I am some-thing” (Descartes, 1980, p. 61, par. 25).
It was under the seemingly inescapable sceptical argument about the Evil Genius that Descartes has found also the seemingly inescapable truth about the self: that it exists. This truth, however, is not yet enough; he had to inquire about his own nature as an existent being.
He discovered that among those attributes which he used to believe he has, including the body, there is one which really does belong to him: thought – “this alone cannot be detached from me. I am; I exist; this is certain”. “But for how long? For as long as I think” (p. 62, par. 26). It was for this reason that Descartes was able to conclude that the self is essentially a thinking self (p. 62, par. 27).
There are two implications in this assertion. First, by claiming that the self is a thinking self Descartes wants to point out the use of reason is innate in each individual. This further advances his claim that geometrical truths are accessible to everyone given the good habit and the proper use of the mind (Sorell, 1987). Second, by claiming that the thinking self is indubitable than the corporeal things truth would then have to be found in this indubitable center. We can see this implicitly in his Wax Argument. In this argument, Descartes claimed that what he perceived about the wax was never the physical appearance for even after it changed he still conceived of the same wax. Thus, he concluded that the comprehension he has of the wax was in no way imagined or sensed, but “perceived by the mind only”. This would construe Descartes claim that knowledge is not knowledge of things but knowledge of our ideas of things (Luijpen, 1960, p. 79). Inevitably, he is lead to conclude that experience, which contemporary philosophers call an event in which encounter the world, is not necessary in attaining truth.
Following this assertion of the certainty of the thinking self, it would not be a surprise then to see why Descartes has claimed that the mind is better and certainly known than corporeal things. This is because it could happen that what he believed he perceived such as the wax can be mistaken, but it could not happen that “while [he] sees, or think [he] sees, [he] who thinks is not something” (Descartes, 1980, p. 66, par. 33).
Even then, Descartes would want to know if we can have true knowledge of things outside our minds. He would loathe imagining that the thinking self is nothing but a vacuum, a locked, lone cell. To avoid this horror he would have to get out of himself; so he tried to seek God.

Meditation 3: Concerning God, That He Exists
Informed by the assumption that sense-perception is incoherent, Descartes has already assessed a priori that we cannot acquire clear and distinct ideas coming from experience. If he wants to be successful in winning his battle against skepticism, he has to prove that there are indeed clear and distinct ideas. He believes he is successful on this matter with regards to the self, thus giving a philosophical foundation on the belief of the immortality of the soul. Owing to this success, Descartes realizes that attributing truth to clear and distinct ideas would earn him more success especially in his investigation about God and the world. Thus, he gives this as a general rule: “what I clearly and distinctly perceive is true” (p. 67, par. 35).
                Economizing on these clear and distinct ideas, Descartes, then, had to inquire what ideas he has in him which can be considered clear and distinct. In Meditation 1, he has already affirmed that mathematical and geometrical truths are clear and distinct. Nevertheless, believing that he has these clear and distinct ideas is not enough a proof that indeed, these ideas are clear and distinct, since this can no longer be maintained once the idea of an Evil Genius is entertained. There is no other way to tell that what he believes to be clear and distinct is really clear and distinct than to inquire whether or not some God could have given him a nature such that he might be deceived. Thus, he said, “…in order to remove this doubt, I ought at the first opportunity to inquire if there is a God, and, if there is, whether or not he can be a deceiver. If I am ignorant of these matters, I do not think I can ever be certain of anything else” (p. 68, par. 36).
                Guided by his general rule, to prove God’s existence requires him to prove that the idea he has of God is clear and distinct, hence true. This method will later lead him to a vicious circle, for the existence of clear and distinct ideas is not proven unless God’s existence is proven first, but God’s existence cannot be proven unless there is a clear and distinct idea of him.
                In order to know if there is a clear and distinct idea of God, Descartes has to classify the types of ideas there are. He noted that there can be three types: innate, adventitious, and fictitious. Innate ideas refer to those which are acquired a priori. Descartes believe that the ideas about the self and geometrical and mathematical truths belong to this type. Adventitious ideas are ideas which refer to the reality outside our mind such as “chair”, “table”, “computer”, etc. These ideas are believed to have been acquired from sense-experience. Later, Descartes would challenge this belief. The last type of ideas is fictitious. They are ideas which are only products of imagination. Examples of these are “elf”, “centaurs”, “superman”, etc.
                Since it is immediately evident that things do not come into being without causes, it follows that it is impossible for an idea to be conceived in the mind unless there is a cause of this idea, and this cause must contain everything that can be found in an idea. Although this cause does not transmit its mind-independent reality into the mind, it does not mean that the idea derived from this cause is not real. This is because the very nature of ideas is that they are not mind-independent unlike their causes. Nevertheless, the essence or whatness of ideas is derived from the things that caused them. However, it does not follow that this essence exists in the thing independent of the mind. Rather, this essence exists insofar as the thing is conceived by the mind (p. 72, par. 42).
                From this point, Descartes gains justification to his notion that ideas may not necessarily conform to things as they are in themselves. According to him, we seem to be taught by nature or that we naturally believe that ideas about objects outside our minds are similar to these objects. However, Descartes believes that this is unwarranted. First of all, he notes that our common-sense view of the world can be mistaken. For example, the pre-scientific conception of the sun is that it is very small when in fact it is several times larger than the earth. Second, even if we recognize that having these ideas does not depend on our actually willing it, on our choosing to create these ideas, still it does not follow that these ideas come from the objects themselves. This is because there might be some other faculty in us other than our will which produces these ideas. He makes the point that even during sleep, when we do not will at all, we are able to acquire this type of ideas.  Therefore, for Descartes, “all of this demonstrates sufficiently that up to this point [we] have believed not by certain judgment, but only by a blind impulse that things exist outside [us] that send their ideas or images into [us] through the sense organs or by some other means” (p. 70, par. 39).
                This is to indicate that, for Descartes, ideas which refer to objects outside of us, which are believed to have been acquired through sense-experience, is not clear and distinct. This is a spit on the face to the old traditional empiricist maxim that “To see is to believe”. Clearly, it suggests that God’s existence cannot be proved through sense-experience. Thus, if the idea of God is to be clear and distinct, it would have to be innate. By innate, Descartes does not mean that this idea is caused by us. Rather, he means that this idea is acquired a priori, without the participation of sense-experience. Needless to say, Descartes assumes that the idea of God has a different status than the ideas of objects (pp. 72-74).
                He vivifies this notion by claiming that when ideas are only considered as mere modes of thinking, there is no point of believing that they are of different status. However, when it comes to the content of these ideas, it is clear that some ideas exhibit more objective reality than others. When Descartes speak of objective reality, he means the perfection that an idea presents to the consciousness. Thus, ideas of finite realities has less objective content than those that exhibit infinite realities like geometrical and material truths and idea of God, who is “eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, and creator of all things.” Descartes would later advance the claim that the idea of God is the most clear and distinct because it exhibits the most objective reality (p. 75, par. 47).
                Since he has this idea of something with an uttermost perfection, it would then be necessary to inquire whether he can or cannot be the cause of this idea. Establishing the principles that the cause cannot be greater than its effect, that something cannot come from nothing, and that the more perfect cannot come from the less perfect, Descartes concluded there is no other cause of this idea of God than God himself: “the idea of God is something that cannot be generated from me. The idea of an infinite substance cannot proceed from me who is finite. Thus, God necessarily exists [as the cause of this idea]” (p. 74).
How does this show that the idea of God is innate? The answer is lucid: given this line of thinking, it follows that “the perception of God exists prior to the perception of myself…Why would I know that I doubt and I desire, that is, that I lack something and that I am not wholly perfect, if there were no idea in me of a more perfect being by comparison with which I might acknowledge my defects?” (p.74, par. 46) So, the idea of self as finite depends on the idea of God as infinite; and if the idea of self is immediately perceived, so much so is the idea of God.
                Consequently, Descartes gives us one of his most important assertions: “It is the idea [of God] that is clear and distinct in the highest degree; for whatever I clearly and distinctly perceive that is real and true and that contains some perfection is wholly contained in that idea” (p. 74). Later, he will make this his presupposition in his grounding of the sciences to God.
                While Descartes was already convinced that God exists, nonetheless he still wanted to entertain some doubts regarding this assertion. One of those was the possibility that perhaps what he attributes to God is really in him potentially. Later, however, he realized that he had to dismiss such a possibility from the fact that no matter how he conceives it, the self is always finite. This recognition of the finitude of the self enabled Descartes to affirm also that even the self comes from God. He made it as a point that if he, who cannot account for his own existence, depends upon a cause other than himself in order to exist, and that if he possesses an idea of infinite perfection, it follows that the cause of his existence must be of an infinite perfection also (again, presupposing the principle that no effect is greater than its cause). This is precisely the attribute of God; hence, goes his proof of God’s existence, a second time.
                Descartes’ conclusion from these arguments is overwhelming:
“The whole force of the argument rests on the fact that I recognize that it is impossible that I should exist, having the idea of God in me, unless God in fact does exist. God, I say, that same being whose idea is in me: a being having all those perfections that I cannot comprehend, but in some way can touch with my thought, and a being subject to no defects. From these things it is sufficiently obvious that he cannot be a deceiver. For it is manifest by the light of nature that fraud and deception depends on some defect.” (p. 78, par. 52)
Thus, Descartes, judging from his own angle, has solved the sceptical problems about the self and about God. What remains now is to overcome skepticism about the material world.

Meditation 5: Concerning the Essence of Material Things, and Again Concerning God, That He Exists
                Descartes begins this meditation by expressing his desire to free himself from the doubts into which he has recently fallen concerning material things. Granted that he can now trust his faculty of judgment because he was able to prove that his nature comes from an infinitely perfect and absolutely good Creator who is a non-deceiver, so he is now confident that whatever he judges about material things can be relied upon provided the same tact and prudence he has been practicing in his past meditations.
                To see whether there is certaint about material things or not, he must first consider whether or not there can be clear and distinct ideas of material things. But there, indeed, are distinct ideas about material things: these are extension, number, and duration. He gives an example of a triangle: whether a triangle really exists or not, or whether I want it or not, is irrelevant to the fact that its three angles is equal to two right angles, that its longest side is opposite the largest angle, and so on. An idea like this and of other figures and numbers do not come from sense-experience; they are acquired a priori, “since [we] can think of many other figures (for example, a chiliagon) without these things having entered me through the senses”. “[He] always took this type of truth to be the most certain of every truth that [he] evidently knew regarding figures, numbers, or other things pertaining to arithmetic, geometry or, in general, to pure and abstract mathematics” (p. 85).
                Following from this, Descartes wants to advance a proof of God’s existence once again. Having noted that even in material things we can have clear and distinct ideas so it cannot be denied that the idea of a supremely perfect being is no less than the idea of some figure or number.
It pertains to God’s nature that he always exists. This is because, being infinitely perfect, it is repugnant to think of God as lacking existence. It follows that existence is inseparable from God; for this reason he truly exists.
                Finally, he was able to reach into his ultimate conclusion:
“…once I perceived that there is a God – because at the same time I also understood that all other things depend on him – and that he is no deceiver, I then concluded that everything that I clearly and distinctly perceive is necessarily true…And thus I plainly see that the certainty and truth of every science depends upon the knowledge of the true God…” (pp. 88-89)
                Since truth of every science depends upon clear and distinct ideas, and since clear and distinct ideas depend upon God who is the source of everything, so the truth of every science depends upon God. It is in God that Descartes believed himself to have found what is lasting and firm in the sciences.


Between Faith and Reason: The Cartesian Experience  
What is interesting in Descartes’ Meditations is his attempt to reconcile science and religion. This agenda is probably not something new among many contemporary thinkers, but considering Descartes own period, surely such approach is a breakthrough in the history of philosophy.
Many of Descartes’ critics would reject his concept of the human person, his theory of knowledge, and his proof of God’s existence. Nevertheless, it is unwarranted to claim that Descartes’ attempt to solve the problems of skepticism has been unsuccessful. In the following paragraphs we shall present briefly the naiveté of some of Descartes’ arguments, and show why, despite these, his approach to scepticism is still not invalid.
First of Descartes’ naïve assertions is his affirmation that ideas of material things are caused by material things themselves but that these ideas are not reflective of things as they are in themselves. For example, Descartes would affirm that the idea I have of a chair is caused or co-caused by the chair in reality, but we do not have the grounds to conclude that this idea of a chair is what really the chair is in reality independent of my mind. Existentialist metaphysicians would claim that this belief is a contradiction (for comparison, see Clarke 2001). If we are to faithfully follow Descartes line of thought, we can reach a conclusion different from where is led. This is because Descartes himself attributes more reality to a cause than to the effect, the very principle he used in proving God’s existence. If an effect (idea) refers to an existent substance, surely its cause must also be an existent substance. If an idea tells us those attributes of this existent substance, surely its cause, the existent substance, must also posses those attributes. Affirming this truth would entail that what things present to the mind through sense-perception is true. This is simply unacceptable for him, for it has been his bias that truth must be fixed, eternal, and a priori.
The other naïve assertion of Descartes is concerning his proof of God’s existence. Apparently, it assumes the same form with that of St. Anselm. It consists in asserting that God, as we know him, cannot not exist, for he is the most perfect of all beings. Since non-existence is non-perfection, it cannot happen that we apprehend the idea of God but deny that he exists. In fact, if God is to be a God, he must be a self-existent being. Although this supports the conclusion that God must necessarily exist, still it does not support the conclusion that God actually exists. Logicians such as Bacchuber (1957) had noted that the proposition “God is a self-existent being” does not have a real supposition. This means that the “God” being meant in that assertion is not the God who is in reality, but the God as conceived by the mind. In other words, it is not God that is being referred to, but the concept of God that is supposed. Descartes would have agreed on this if he had been more prudent, for he himself had affirmed that no cause is greater than its effect. Thus, the idea (effect) that God is a necessary being cannot make God (cause) exists. Logicians call St. Anselm’s, and now Descartes’ error, existential fallacy (Bacchuber, 1957, p. 234).
Despite these naivetes, Descartes can still be said to have overcome scepticism, at least from my own point of view. One of the things that skepticism destroys is the belief we have of ourselves, the confidence and self-trust that what we believe to be true are indeed true. Although this is not explicit to Descartes himself, his attempt to regain self-trust after putting himself into the world of scepticism, of making himself a willing victim in the dark world of uncertainties, and his self-evident belief of his victory, of regaining self-trust in the end, is in fact one of the most fundamental requirements in overcoming scepticism – that is – to become not sceptic anymore.
However, this is not to say that one can easily overcome scepticism by just dismissing or not taking it seriously. Skepticism threatens self-trust, and self-trust can only be regained if one is conscientious of his beliefs. Being conscientious entails that one does not dismiss the threat of scepticism carelessly. So if one is to be authentic, he cannot simply dismiss scepticism.
In Descartes’ situation, scepticism lurks on the tension between faith and reason. On one hand, there are those who distrust the capacity of reason to attain truth. On the other hand, there are those who deny the relevance of faith in the search for knowledge. Here we understand why Descartes had so much wanted to destroy this tension, thus destroy scepticism. If we try to go back into Descartes’ basic arguments, we would have something like this:
a.       I have to find certainty.
b.      I can be certain if I can trust myself to have a nature that can reach certainty.
c.       I can prove that I have a nature that can reach certainty if I can prove that God, who is thought to be the source of all things even of myself, exists and that he did not give me a nature that can be deceived.
d.      I can prove that God exists if the idea I have of him is clear and distinct (for whatever is clear and distinct is true).
e.      The idea of God who is infinitely perfect and absolutely good, one who cannot not exist, is the most clear and distinct of all ideas.
f.        Therefore, God exists.
g.     Therefore, I can trust myself for I came from God, who, being so infinitely perfect and absolutely good, cannot deceive me or give a nature that is subject to deception.

Here we find a familiar anxiety of the need to be able to trust our faculty of reasoning in our search for knowledge. This necessity impels Descartes to prove that God exists, for it is in such proof that we can assure ourselves that we have a nature that can attain truth and certainty. But what is interesting is that, Descartes is demonstrating God’s existence using the very faculty which he himself is putting into question. Thus, he already put trust on himself and on his own faculty even before he begins demonstrating God’s existence. Apparently, this pre-philosophical act of self-trust is a leap of faith, since he did not ground this into something which he has already demonstrated. However, this faith cannot be said to be groundless nor does it make the self its own ground. Rather, it is a faith on someone other than oneself. This is so because it would be pointless for Descartes to rely on God for the possibility of truth and so the need to seek his existence unless Descartes himself recognizes that the trust that he is putting on himself is only to the extent that he believes and trusts that God, who is his creator, is no deceiver. This is why he believes he can make himself his point of departure in finding God: by reflecting upon himself and upon his ideas to prove God’s existence he expresses the faith that God is for him, not against him.
So, there goes the question, “Is it necessary for Descartes to put God as the foundation of knowledge?” This is difficult to answer. First of all, if Descartes had been an atheist he could have made a different argument. So it would appear that the “God-foundation” is only his religious bias. Second of all, even if he is not an atheist himself, he can still formulate an argument that does not lead to the “God-foundation”, for the belief that God is no deceiver may not be relevant as proof of certainty. Nevertheless, if we are to read Descartes’ Meditations from a perspective of an author who, in the midst of scepticism, recognizes his own finitude and his need for the Absolute as his basis of self-trust, then we can say the proving God’s existence and putting him as the foundation of all knowledge is as necessary as overcoming scepticism. This supports the reason why he tried to knit faith and reason together.
Descartes himself would not deny that what saved him from scepticism and gained for him certainty is not the fact that he was able to establish clear and distinct ideas, but from the fact that he was able to trust that that these clear and distinct ideas are true for they have God, who is not a deceiver, as their source. But the point is, this confidence is not really grounded on his assent to arguments, for Descartes himself affirmed that the even the truth of his arguments depend on this confidence (Descartes, 1980, p. 68). Hence, we have a valid reason to infer that grounding God as the foundation of the sciences is more than a discourse of Descartes in order to address sceptical problems. It is rather a paradoxical expression of certainty in the midst of uncertainty, that is – of being certain that God would not deceive us while at same time being uncertain of our capacity to reach truth on our own unless we have God as our foundation.
At the end of the day, I believe that what Descartes has acquired that granted him to found the sciences of his days is not a concept but a disposition, a certain confidence that by virtue of his being a creature of an infinitely perfect and good God, then he has in him a faculty that shall not bring him into error and deception.
Reading the Meditations, then, can be like reading a tale of a spiritual journey of a soul longing for the Absolute; indeed, a typical Cartesian experience.

Cited Materials:
Bacchuber, Andrew. Introduction to Logic. (New York: Appleton-Century Croft, Inc., 1957).
Clarke, Norris W. The One and the Many: A Contemporary Thomistic  Metaphysics.  (Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2001).
Descartes, Rene. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated by Donald A. Cress. (USA: Hackett Publishing Company, 1980).
Luijpen, William A. Existential Phenomenology,. (USA: Duquesne University Press, 1960), 79-84.
Sorell, Tom. Descartes. Past Masters series. (USA: Oxford Universty Press, 1987).

Zagzebski, Linda. On Epistemology. (USA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. 2009).

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