This article examines how deduction preserves certainty and how much certainty it can preserve according to Descartes's Rules for the Direction of the Mind. I argue that the certainty of a deduction is a matter of four conditions for Descartes. First, certainty depends on whether the conjunction of simple propositions is composed with necessity or contingency. Second, a deduction approaches the certainty of an intuition depending on how many “acts of conceiving” it requires and—third—the complexity or difficulty of the acts of thinking, which is determined by the content of the thoughts and on external factors. Fourth, certainty depends on the intellectual aptitude of the person using the deduction. A deduction lacks certainty when it relies on memory such that it is not apprehended with immediacy. However, the mental capacity and speed of a mind can be increased by training the special mental faculties of perspicacity and discernment. Increasing one's intellectual aptitude allows for more steps of a deduction to be inferred in fewer acts of conceiving, thereby helping preserve the certainty of a deduction.
...More
Chapter
Koutras, Demetrios;
(2000)
Aristotle and the Limitations of Deduction in Scientific Knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB000410686/)
Article
Kerszberg, Pierre;
(2013)
Deduction Versus Discourse: Newton and the Cosmic Phenomena
(/isis/citation/CBB001320867/)
Article
Rodolfo Garau;
(2023)
Gassendi's second thought. From a materialistic picture of cognition to the defence of dualism: The lasting influence of the polemic with Descartes
(/isis/citation/CBB372335852/)
Chapter
Arabatzis, Theodore;
(2012)
Hidden Entities and Experimental Practice: Renewing the Dialogue Between History and Philosophy of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB001500247/)
Article
Akeroyd, F. Michael;
(2008)
Mechanistic Explanation Versus Deductive-Nomological Explanation
(/isis/citation/CBB000930617/)
Article
Christophe Schmit;
(2019)
Philippe de La Hire, physicien : philosophie mécanique, mécanique rationnelle, mécanique appliquée
(/isis/citation/CBB604816553/)
Book
Janiak, Andrew;
Schliesser, Erick;
(2012)
Interpreting Newton: Critical Essays
(/isis/citation/CBB001500334/)
Essay Review
Martine Pécharman;
(2018)
Roger Ariew and "The First Cartesians"
(/isis/citation/CBB665136789/)
Book
Garber, Daniel;
(2001)
Descartes Embodied: Reading Cartesian Philosophy through Cartesian Science
(/isis/citation/CBB000101645/)
Article
Gellera, Giovanni;
(2013)
Calvinist Metaphysics and the Eucharist in the Early Seventeenth Century
(/isis/citation/CBB001320856/)
Thesis
Bilger, Paul Rudolf;
(2011)
A Critical Explication of the First Two Sections of Fichte's “Grundlage der gesamten Wissenschaftslehre”
(/isis/citation/CBB001567313/)
Article
Mosini, V.;
(2002)
Was the Methodology behind Electrodynamics Inductive or Deductive?
(/isis/citation/CBB000502808/)
Article
Weber, Marcel;
(2009)
The Crux of Crucial Experiments: Duhem's Problems and Inference to the Best Explanation
(/isis/citation/CBB001230044/)
Article
Gal, Ofer;
Chen-Morris, Raz;
(2010)
Baroque Optics and the Disappearance of the Observer: From Kepler's Optics to Descartes' Doubt
(/isis/citation/CBB001030592/)
Chapter
Roger Ariew;
(2010)
Ethics in Descartes and Seventeenth Century Cartesian Textbooks
(/isis/citation/CBB025433700/)
Book
Alexandrescu, Vlad;
(2009)
Branching Off: The Early Moderns in Quest of the Unity of Knowledge
(/isis/citation/CBB001021823/)
Book
Boumans, Marcel;
Hon, Giora;
Petersen, Arthur;
(2013)
Error and Uncertainty in Scientific Practice
(/isis/citation/CBB001422491/)
Article
Kruse, Corinna;
(2004)
Making It Work: Balancing Uncertainty and Resources in Genetic Research
(/isis/citation/CBB000770378/)
Article
Robert Hudson;
(2015)
Why We Should Not Reject the Value-Free Ideal of Science
(/isis/citation/CBB919709045/)
Article
Baptiste Bedessem;
Stéphanie Ruphy;
(2019)
Scientific autonomy and the unpredictability of scientific inquiry: The unexpected might not be where you would expect
(/isis/citation/CBB397945367/)
Be the first to comment!