Descartes (Quiz 3) - Answer Key

 






The following is a list of answers to all questions on this quiz. Questions may not appear, or may be in a different order than on the individual quizzes.


Hyperbolic Doubt.
Why did Descartes resolve to treat as being false anything that is subject to doubt?

a.    To rid his mind of false opinions that he first took to be true when he was young.

 

b.    To avoid making bad practical decisions.

 

c.    Because anything that is subject to doubt is false.

 

The correct answer: a

Explanation: Descartes stated that there is no danger in doing this, since he was concentrating on knowledge not action. So there are no practical consequences. He did not say that anything subject to doubt is false, and in fact, he later tried to prove that some of them are true (for example, that a corporeal world exists).


Cogito.
What was the first thing that Descartes found himself unable to doubt in his meditations?

a.    That he exists when he is thinking.

 

b.    That God exists.

 

c.    That he has an understanding and will.

 

d.    That 2 + 3 = 5, and other simple propositions of arithmetic.

 

e.    That he has a body,

 

The correct answer: a

Explanation: In Meditation Two, Descartes discovers that he exists when thinking. Shortly after that, he discovers that he is a thinking thing, with understanding and will. Descartes does not prove that God exists until Mediation Three. In that meditation he also declares that he cannot doubt that 2 + 3 = 5. Doubts about the existence of bodies are not removed until Meditation Five.


Clear and Distinct (Descartes).
What criterion of truth did Descartes arrive at in Meditation Three?

a.    Divine inspiration.

 

b.    Logical consistency.

 

c.    Conformity to sensory experience.

 

d.    Clear and distinct perception.

 

The correct answer: d

Explanation: In Meditation Three, Descartes takes it as a general rule that whatever he perceives clearly and distinctly is true. He had already dismissed sensory experience as being unreliable. What is logically consistent might be false. The meditations are conducted by natural reason, and Descartes avoids any mention of divine inspiration.


First God Proof.
Descartes in Meditation Three tried to prove that God exists. What was the basis of his proof?

a.    Only an existing infinite substance could cause the idea he has of an infinite substance.

 

b.    Existence belongs to the essence of God.

 

c.    It is impossible to think of a being greater than an infinite substance.

 

d.    If an infinite substance did not exist, it would not be infinite.

 

The correct answer: a

Explanation: The proof for God's existence in Meditation Three is a causal argument. Descartes has an idea of an infinite substance, and only an existing being (with "formal reality") could cause an idea with infinite "objective reality." Although Descartes believed that existence belongs to the essence of God, he did not use this in his proof. While it is impossible to think of a being greater than an infinite substance, this is not he basis for his proof, and is more closely related to Anselm's proof. Similar remarks apply to the claim that if an infinite substance did nt exist, it would not be infinite.


Error.
According to Descartes, what is the source of human error?

a.    Human beings understand everything perfectly well, but perversely refuse to believe what is true.

 

b.    The human understanding is fundamentally defective in a way that makes avoiding error impossible.

 

c.    Human beings have an infinite will but a finite understanding.

 

d.    God deceives human beings in some matters.

 

The correct answer: c

Explanation: Human error is attributed to the fact that our will is infinite (unlimited), so that we can assent to anything the understanding places before the mind. But the understanding, being finite, yields perceptions that are not clear and distinct, and assenting to these is the source of error. Descartes expressly tries to prove that God does not deceive us, although God permits us to be deceived. The fact that the human understanding is finite precludes us from understanding everything perfectly well, and we fail to believe what is true because we are inattentive. The human understanding is limited, but it is able to avoid error by not assenting to what is not clearly and distinctly perceived.


Nature of Bodies (Descartes).
According to Descartes, what is the nature of bodies?

a.    The nature of a body is the matter that makes it up.

 

b.    The nature of a body is to have all the qualities which are perceived in it by the senses.

 

c.    The nature of a body is to be extended, shaped, moveable, and enduring.

 

d.    The nature of a body is its form, which makes it the kind of thing it is.

 

The correct answer: c

Explanation: The discussion of the nature of bodies in Meditation Five indicates that a body's nature is to be extended, shaped, moveable, and enduring. The view that the nature of a thing is its form is due to Aristotle. Forms are not mentioned by Descartes. Matter is an Aristotelian notion that is not mentioned by Descartes, either. Some qualities of a body (such as its smell or taste) are not components of the nature of a body.


Proof of External World (Descartes).
Which of the following was NOT a component of Descartes's attempted proof that bodies exist?

a.    I could not have caused the existence of the ideas I have of bodies.

 

b.    God is not a deceiver.

 

c.    I have a strong natural inclination to believe that bodies exist.

 

d.    If I did not have a body, it would be impossible for me to have sense-perceptions.

 

The correct answer: d

Explanation: Descartes's argument was as follows. I could not be the cause of my ideas of bodies, and the only cause could be bodies themselves or an immaterial spirit. I have a strong natural inclination to believe that bodies exist. God would be a deceiver if he made me with such an inclination and bodies do not exist. God is not a deceiver, so bodies exist. Because Descartes allows the possibility that an immaterial spirit could cause my ideas of bodies, he did not hold that it would be impossible to have sense-perceptions without having a body.


Mind and Body (Descartes).
Which of the following does NOT describe the relation between mind and body, according to Descartes.

a.    It is possible for the mind to exist without a body.

 

b.    The mind and the body are united so as to form a single thing.

 

c.    The mind is in the body in the way that a pilot is in a ship.

 

d.    The mind sometimes receives misleading information from the body.

 

The correct answer: c

Explanation: Descartes held that although the mind can exist without the body, the two are united so as to form a single thing. The union is not so close, however, that the information passed on to the mind by the body cannot be garbled in the process of transmission. Descartes denies that the mind is the body in the manner of a pilot in the ship, because it would have to be detached from the body.