“Explain Descartes’ clear and distinct rule; what problems arise?

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French philosopher and mathematician with great
ambition. His aim was to completely change the traditional outlook on philosophy rather than
simply make a contribution.

"...those who are seeking the strict way of truth should not trouble themselves about any
object concerning which they can not have a certainty equal to arithmetical or geometrical
demonstration." – René Descartes

Descartes' ontological (a priori) argument is both one of the most fascinating yet also one of
the most misunderstood aspects of his philosophy. Interest in the argument stems from the
effort to prove God's existence from simple but powerful arguments. Existence is derived
immediately from the clear and distinct idea of a supreme deity. Ironically, the simplicity of
the argument has also produced several misreadings.

Descartes suggests that there is no knowledge that he can be certain of. He suggested that the
“philosophical authorities” – that is religious leaders and Aristotle – which had dominated
philosophical thinking at the time should be treated with more scepticism. This is known as
the “Disagreement of the Learned” and appears in “The Discourses” (1641.) Intellectuals of
the time were arguing over new scientific discoveries, which conflicted with belief in God.
The ideas of Plato were being “rediscovered” and Descartes wanted to bring back some
certainty into the world. It was not only due to the new discoveries, the Reformation and the
“rediscovering” of Plato’s work that Descartes felt the need to renew certainty in the world:

“Some years ago I was struck by the large numbers of falsehoods that I had accepted as true
in my childhood, and by the highly doubtful nature of the whole edifice that I had
subsequently bases on them.” – René Descartes.

Descartes also doubted (in the “Meditations on First Philosophy”) that we could always trust
our senses. He proposed that as we can sometimes be mistaken due to misinterpretations by
our senses and therefore we can never be certain of our empirical beliefs. Because our senses
are more often right than wrong, we may infer that what we perceive by the senses is usually
true, although we cannot prove that that will always be the case. However, Descartes decided
that God, being perfectly good, would not deceive him through his sense faculties – God had
after all provided him with his sense faculties for a purpose. Descartes continued his method
of scepticism and argued that he could be in a dreaming state (his “Dream Argument”):

“How often, asleep at night, am I convinced of just such familiar events - that I am here in
my dressing-gown, sitting by the fire – when in fact I am lying undressed in bed!” – René
Descartes, First Meditation on First Philosophy.

This argument is not very convincing but is hard to deny conclusively. Even with the
prospect of being unable to determine when you are awake or in a dreaming state there must
be an external world outside the dreaming state. Even in the strangest dreams objects have
certain characteristics which must come from an external world – shape, number, place and
time. Also, either awake or asleep mathematical propositions remain true. Furthermore, Nigel
Warburton says of the Dream Argument that:

“…it is usually easy to distinguish dreams from reality because dreams are full of weird
ideas.”

Descartes’ ultimate argument of scepticism was his “Demon Argument.” Descartes considers
the possibility of an evil demon deceiving us, which could conceivably deceive us of
mathematical “truths” and a possible external world. However, Descartes decided that as God
was all powerful, he would not allow an evil demon to deceive us.

There was one thought (cogitation) that Descartes claimed he could be certain of, that he was
a physical entity. From Descartes’ breakthrough, the Cogito, he went on to argue that humans
are Duelist beings and that our minds are immortal unlike our bodies are very much mortal
(as well as extended in spatial dimensions and visible.) A problem with Descartes’ ideas of
Dualism is that he assumed that everything in the material world is matter in motion and all
action is by contact. Today we know however, that colour, smell etc. are interpretations from
our sense organs on material particles. Descartes believed that the mind belonged to a
separate realm from that of material objects. This idea has some stability but Descartes
believed these two separate realms of the body and the mind to be joined in the tiny pineal
gland in the brain. Although the exact function of the pineal gland is unknown the question
“What could such a connector of material and mental things consist of?” remains impossible
to answer, conclusively at least.

Descartes said that he could clearly and distinctly perceive his existence. With his belief that
the Cogito was indubitable, he went on to say that it is because of his clear and distinct
perception of his existence that he can say it is indubitable. Therefore, he said that anything
he clearly and distinctly perceives is true. A fundamental problem with Descartes’ Clear and
Distinct Rule is that his whole argument can be questioned unless one believes in the
existence of God. A definition of what Descartes is talking about when he mentions clear and
distinct ideas is also difficult to determine, being something along the lines of something that
gives a feeling of complete certainty. Alan Gewirth’s interpretation is that something is clear
if it has been made present to the mind and shows us the essence of the object. How we can
determine when we have got to the essence of an object is difficult however. Gewirth also
says that something is distinct if it excludes everything which is not essential to it.

While the body is matter and is seperable, the mind is not matter and cannot be divided. This
point is supported by how we think about the mind and the body: One’s consciousness cannot
be separated into distinct parts; if one loses a part of one’s mind, one cannot survive. The
body, on the other hand, is separated into members by function, and can still operate without
several of those members. It is better for our body to mislead us on occasion, than for our
body to mislead us all the time, and thus we may still believe in the perfection of God (if we
have followed Descartes mental path to this point and believed in the existence of God
originally.) Because our senses are more often right than wrong, we may infer that what we
perceive by the senses is usually true, although we cannot prove that that will always be the
case.

Through clear and distinct ideas we now have a method for distinguishing truth from
falsehoods, but because we often must make quick decisions, it is not a feasible method for
everyday use. With clear and distinct perception, and increasing understanding, one can most
often discern truth.