Descartes' meditations on mind and knowledge

Descartes' Meditation

God is / is not a deceiver

Decartes' philosophical treatise "Meditations on First Philosophy" generated much controversy at the time when it was issued, given the people at the time were reluctant to accept God-related theories that were not religious in character. Parts four and six from the essay relate to the existence of certain errors, but emphasize that the respective faults cannot necessarily be considered proof that God is a deceiver. Throughout these two chapters the philosophers identifies a series of errors and then discusses motives why God should not be considered a deceiver for allowing them to exist.

One of the foremost concepts that Descartes uses to support the belief that God cannot possibly be a deceiver concerns the weakness related to dishonesty and the fact that God's perfection would not permit this. The philosopher proceeds to put across his doubt in regard to God's involvement in errors by relating to the fact that it would virtually be impossible for him to mistake in his judgment, especially considering that God had presumably provided him with perfect judgment. The Meditator's solution for this dilemma is that the divine being has made man finite, thus making him a combination between perfection and imperfection. Apparently, this is the reason for which man is also capable of committing mistakes. However, the Meditator still has problems understanding why God wanted people to be imperfect. His rationale in regard to this problem is that people's finite nature does not render them able to understand complex matters involving God. As a result, there is no point in trying to doubt God's good intentions, given that people will never be capable of understand them if they continue to use traditional methods. Perfection might exist in a more general picture, one that brings together imperfect beings and where everyone contributes to making flawlessness.

According to the Meditator, people have to focus on society and the world as a whole instead of only being interested in themselves. God's perfection is, according to the Meditator, translated into humans through the fact that they have free will, both God and people being unlimited from this perspective.