"How to Make Our Ideas Clear"
- Philosophy 1
- Spring, 2002
- G. J. Mattey
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Clear and Distinct Conceptions
- Logicians distinguish between conceptions in two ways
- Clear vs. obscure
- Distinct vs. confused
- A clear idea is one that is recognized whenever it is met with
- Never mistaken for another (rare)
- So familiar that there is no hesitation in using it (common)
- A distinct idea is one that has nothing unclear in it
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A Priorism
- Familiarity and abstract distinctness are outmoded as means of perfecting thought
- Descartes tried to pass from the method of authority to that of a priority using clarity and distinctness as a sign of the a priori
- He did not distinguish between being clear and seeming to be so
- Leibniz got no further by trying to understand all conceptions in terms of definition
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Economy
- The easiest way to have clear ideas is to have meager and restricted ones
- Those who have rich conceptions, primarily youth, are led astray
- Intellectual maturity will help, but often it comes too late
- Many peoples intellectual lives are ruined by their pursuit of unclear ideas
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Thought and Belief
- Doubt is hesitancy, and it stimulates the mind to action
- It is overcome by a decision to act in a certain way, i.e., by belief
- Active thought is primarily directed toward the production of belief, which is thought at rest
- But application of belief raises new doubts
- The ultimate end of thought is action
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Pragmatism
- Beliefs which produce the same action are the same
- Different meanings are a function of different practices
- We mean by our conception of wine the effects it has on our senses
- Consideration of practical effects allows the highest degree of clarity
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An Example: Freedom
- Could I have resisted temptation and not done something of which I am ashamed?
- The answer depends only on the possible arrangement of facts
- Relative to the question of blame, yes
- If I had willed to do otherwise, I would have done so
- Relative to the question of the power of temptation, no
- Some temptations have an irresistible effect
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An Example: Force
- Philosophers try to distinguish between force as acceleration and as cause of acceleration
- Some say that force is an unknown cause
- These distinctions make no practical difference
- To know the accelerations and the laws governing them is to know what force is
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Reality
- There are three grades of clarity in our conception of reality
- Familiarity: a childs conception is clear in this way
- Distinctness: the real is that whose characteristics are independent of what they are thought to be by any individual
- Practice: the real is that which is destined to be agreed upon by all who investigate
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Ideal Agreement
- There is no conflict between the criteria of distinctness and practice
- The real is independent only of what individuals think
- The practical criterion is an ideal one, not depending on what any one individual may think
- Even though the criterion of reality involves remote considerations, it gives us a clear conception of what reality is
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