Descartes on human nature : some remarks about the "Fourth Meditation"

Recenzowane materiały z konferencji naukowej: Nowożytne rozważania o naturze ludzkiej, dn. 5-6 grudnia 2008 r., Kraków. Strona wydawcy: https://www.wuj.pl

The aim of my paper is to bring out some important aspects of Descartes' conception of human nature presented in his Meditations on First Philosophy, and, in particular, in the Fourth Meditation. I distinguish three levels of analysis in this text: the logico-epistemological, where Descartes expounds his theory of judging; the ontologico-theological, where we encounter Descartes’ account of the nature of God and man, as considered in their mutual relations; and finally the ethico-anthropological, which involves the problem of free will and freedom, as well as the issue of theodicy. The latter, according to some interpretations, such as the one suggested by Zbigniew Janowski in his excellent book Cartesian Theodicy. Descartes’ Quest for Certitude, proves to be the central theme throughout the text of all six Meditations. I suggest that in order to tackle the problem raised in the Fourth Meditation, i.e., the problem of justifying and explaining errors in human cognition, all three levels must be involved. This shows systematic Descartes’ project is - it involves metaphysics, epistemology and ethics in a solution to one problem.