Was Descartes Sincere in his Appeal to the Natural Light?

Was Descartes Sincere in his Appeal to the Natural Light? LOUIS E. LOEB 1. THREE PUZZLES CONCERNING MEDITATIONS 3 AND 4" MEDITATIONS 3 AND 4 would seem to constitute the epistemological core of the Meditations., It is here that Descartes claims to validate clear and distinct perception by proving the existence of a non-deceiving God. And yet, in these very Meditations, Descartes (1) offers arguments for the existence of God that have found no subsequent proponents, (2) argues in a circle, and (3) appeals to the "natural light" in declaring highly controvertible metaphysical theses "evident" and "manifest." These features of Meditations 3 and 4 demand an explanation. Let me elaborate. (1) The first feature relates to the substance of Descartes' arguments for the existence of God in Meditation 3. The two "anthropological" or "causal" arguments exhibit glaring deficiencies. Judging by the state of the journal literature (as distinct from books devoted to Descartes), the arguments scarcely merit discussion.~ Bernard Williams takes the arguments to be "hopeless."s The most ' I use the following abbreviations for editions of Descartes' works: "AT" for Charles Adam and Paul Tannery, eds., Oeuvres de Descartes, vols. 1-11 (Paris, Libraire Philosophique J. Vrin, 1964); "CB" for John Cottingham, trans., Descartes'Conversation with Burman (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), references are to Cottingham's numeration of the "pieces" of the text; "HR" for Elizabeth S. Haldane and G. R. T. Ross, trans, The Philosophical Works of Descartes, vols 1-~ (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 197o); "K" for Anthony Kenny, Descartes,Philosophical Letters (Oxford, Oxford University Press, 197o). Where an English source is listed after an AT reference, I have departed from the cited translation. References to specific paragraphs of the Meditations follow the paragraph divisions of the second Latin edition, 164~, as edited by Adam (AT, 7); this is the edition translated by Haldane and Ross. 9 I know of only two articles devoted to the causal arguments: Frank B. Dilley, "Descartes' Cosmological Argument," The Monist 54, 3 (July 197o): 4~7-4o; and Robert Delahunty, "Descartes ' Cosmological Argument," Philosophical Quarterly 80, x18 (Jan. 198o): 34-46. s Bernard Williams, Descartes, The Project of Pure Enquiry (Harmondsworth, England: Pelican, 1978), ~1o. [377] 378 JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY a6:3JULY 1988 notable deficiency is the use of the premise that there must be at least as much formal perfection in the efficient and total cause of an idea as objective perfection in the idea itself. This leads to a first puzzle: how could Descartes declare this indefensible principle about causation "evidently true" (HR, 1:162; AT, 7:41)? (2) The second feature relates not to the substance of the arguments for the existence of God, but to their role in the philosophical context in which they are embedded. The apparent circularity of the Meditations was noticed by the authors of three of the sets of objections--Arnauld (HR, 2:92; AT, 7:214), Gassendi,4 and the authors of the Second Objections (HR 2:26; AT, 7:12425 ). Descartes' argument in Meditations 3 and 4 has seemed obviously question-begging. This leads to a second puzzle: how could Descartes, in writing the Meditations, have been unaware of the apparent circularity that was immediately raised as an objection by three sets of critics?5 (3) The third feature relates to the manner in which the premises of the arguments for the existence of God are introduced. At paragraph five of Meditation 3, Descartes embarks on his proofs of the existence of God. Beginning at paragraph fourteen, he repeatedly appeals to the "natural light" in introducing the premises for these proofs. The first reference to this faculty in the Meditations (apart from the Synopsis) is at paragraph nine of Meditation 3This leads to a third puzzle: why does the light of nature make a debut, as the source of "manifest" metaphysical principles, at precisely this point in the Meditations? I have noted elsewhere that consideration of the first puzzle is suggestive of the possibility that Descartes was aware of the substantive deficiencies in the causal arguments for the existence of God, and consideration of the second puzzle is suggestive of the possibility that Descartes was aware of the...