Study Questions for Descartes, Meditation Four

Note: numbers in parentheses refer to the numbers in the margins of your text, which are the page numbers of the standard Adam and Tannery (AT) edition of Descartes’ collected works and are included in most translations.

 

1. The first paragraph sums up the argument so far and points the way forward.  What does Descartes say that he knows now, from which he can “progress ... to the knowledge of other things?
2. Descartes then turns to an apparent conflict in his conclusions:  He has concluded that God is not a deceiver, and that his mental faculties come from God, yet he knows that he makes mistakes.  Why isn’t God to blame for Descartes’ errors?  (The answer is developed in the rest of this meditation.  I think we can see that Descartes is offering a version of 'the free will defense' to the problem of evil.)
3. Why does Descartes think that his will is, in a sense, just as great as God’s? (AT 57-58)
4. How is the will involved in Descartes’ errors? (AT 58-59)
5. How does Descartes think he can avoid errors? (AT 60)
6. Why does Descartes not blame God for his (Descartes’) propensity to make errors? (AT 60-61)
7. How (again) does Descartes think he can avoid errors and discover truth? (AT 62)