James Hill - Descartes and the Doubting Mind

Continuum Studies in Philosophy

Series Editor: James Fieser, University of Tennessee at Martin, USA

Continuum Studies in Philosophy is a major monograph series from Continuum. The series features first-class scholarly research monographs across the whole field of philosophy. Each work makes a major contribution to the field of philosophical research.

Aesthetic in Kant , James Kirwan

Analytic Philosophy: The History of an Illusion, Aaron Preston

Aquinas and the Ship of Theseus , Christopher Brown

Augustine and Roman Virtue , Brian Harding

The Challenge of Relativism , Patrick Phillips

Demands of Taste in Kants Aesthetics, Brent Kalar

Descartes and the Metaphysics of Human Nature , Justin Skirry

Descartes Theory of Ideas , David Clemenson

Dialectic of Romanticism , Peter Murphy and David Roberts

Duns Scotus and the Problem of Universals , Todd Bates

Hegels Philosophy of Language , Jim Vernon

Hegels Philosophy of Right , David James

Hegels Theory of Recognition , Sybol S. C. Anderson

The History of Intentionality , Ryan Hickerson

Kantian Deeds, Henrik Jker Bjerre

Kierkegaard, Metaphysics and Political Theory , Alison Assiter

Kierkegaards Analysis of Radical Evil , David A. Roberts

Leibniz Re-interpreted , Lloyd Strickland

Metaphysics and the End of Philosophy , H. O. Mounce

Nietzsche and the Greeks , Dale Wilkerson

Origins of Analytic Philosophy , Delbert Reed

Philosophy of Miracles , David Corner

Platonism, Music and the Listeners Share , Christopher Norris

Poppers Theory of Science, Carlos Garcia

Rationality and Feminist Philosophy , Deborah K. Heikes

Role of God in Spinozas Metaphysics , Sherry Deveaux

Rousseau and the Ethics of Virtue , James Delaney

Rousseaus Theory of Freedom , Matthew Simpson

Spinoza and the Stoics , Firmin DeBrabander

Spinozas Radical Cartesian Mind , Tammy Nyden-Bullock

St. Augustine and the Theory of Just War , John Mark Mattox

St. Augustine of Hippo , R. W. Dyson

Thomas Aquinas & John Duns Scotus , Alex Hall

Tolerance and the Ethical Life , Andrew Fiala

Descartes and the Doubting Mind

James Hill

Continuum Studies in Philosophy

Continuum International Publishing Group

www.continuumbooks.com

James Hill 2012

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

James Hill has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as Author of this work.

Research on this book was supported by the Czech government grant project Formal and Historical Approaches to Epistemology, GAR, no. P401/10/1504.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN: 9781441113108

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hill, James.

Descartes and the doubting mind / James Hill.

p. cm. -- (Continuum studies in philosophy)

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 9781441132031 ISBN 9781441179869 ISBN 9781441113108 1. Descartes, Ren, 15961650. 2. Philosophy of mind-History-17th century. I. Title. II. Series.

B1878.M55H55 2011

194-dc23

2011028610

Typeset by Fakenham Prepress Solutions Ltd, Fakenham, Norfolk NR21 8NN

Our doubts depend on the fact that some propositions are exempt from doubt they are as it were like hinges on which the doubts turn.

Ludwig Wittgenstein, On Certainty

Contents

Acknowledgements

I have had the good fortune to have enjoyed discussions about this book and its themes with many different people. In particular I would like to thank Margaret Atherton, Daniel Friesner, Petr Glombek, Pavel Kouba, John Milton, Samuel Rickless, Anthony Savile and Adrian Weddell, all of whom provided valuable comments in conversation or correspondence. I would like to thank Tom Marvan and Milan Sobotka for their reactions, published in Czech, to some of the key theses put forward here their critical perspectives have, I hope, helped me to improve the accuracy of my reading of Descartes. I am very grateful to my colleagues who read earlier drafts of the book. Timothy Childers gave me the benefit of his sharp eye for the weakest links in my arguments throughout the book; Tom Marvan made detailed and valuable comments to each chapter; Jan Palkoska led me, in particular, to reassess my interpretation of the scientific background of Descartes thought; and I am especially indebted to Marina Barabas for her criticisms as well as for our wide-ranging discussions which led me to see the central philosophical issues in a new light. I thank my students at Charles University for their questions and reactions that frequently called me back from the arcane scholarly disputes to consider the overall merits and demerits of Descartes philosophy of mind. All these people have helped me improve what I offer to the reader, but I, of course, am responsible for the mistakes and imperfections that inevitably remain. Finally, let me thank my family Anna, Marsha and Thomas for putting up with my Cartesian meditations for so long. It is to them that I dedicate this book.

Bibliographical Note

I use the style AT IXII 63 to refer to volumes and page numbers of Oeuvres de Descartes , edited by Charles Adam and Paul Tannery (Vrin, 1996). CSM III 63 refers to the (first two) volumes and page numbers of The Philosophical Writings of Descartes , translated by John Cottingham, Robert Stoothoff and Dugald Murdoch, (Cambridge University Press, 1985) and CSMK 63 to the third volume of the same title, for which Anthony Kenny also translated material. Occasionally I depart from these translations and in such cases I indicate to the reader that the translation has been amended. Once or twice I have drawn on the older English translation of Descartes works: The Philosophical Works of Descartes (2 volumes), translated by Elizabeth Haldane and G. R. T. Ross (Cambridge University Press, 1934), which I refer to as: HR I 63.

Chapter I

Introduction

1. The Aims of the Book

One of Ren Descartes central and most well-known philosophical theses is that the mind is a thinking thing or res cogitans . This characterization of the mind is so striking and simple that it may seem to call for little in the way of interpretation. It may even look like a statement of the obvious what else could the mind be other than a thing which thinks? This book is written in the conviction that it is actually not obvious what Descartes means by a thinking thing and his meaning only becomes clear on careful investigation of his metaphysics and particularly of the method of doubt with which it is introduced. I shall be primarily concerned here with how Descartes thinking thing is related to his understanding of the intellect, of sensation, and of consciousness.

It is one aim of my interpretation to show that we cannot appreciate Descartes concept of the mind if we do not see how he is seeking to overcome an empiricist framework. Descartes thought that a sense-based approach to the mind and its abilities was so widespread and familiar at the time he was writing that it had become second nature to philosophers. He thought that this empiricist viewpoint not only overestimated the epistemic importance of sense perception in our finding out about the world, but that it also misunderstood the very nature of thought itself. One reason he was particularly concerned to free himself from empiricism, I shall argue, was because he felt it was an obstruction to the establishment of a new science of nature. He held that to understand the natural world we need to have a non-sensual conception of thought, and such a conception requires a mind that is, in its essence, an intellectual being.