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    Carmelics

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    Perspectives
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    42
    Possibilities which exist only in thought are not possibi... — Carmelics
    Home/Modality & Possibility
    HistoryEditSee Inverse

    Possibilities which exist only in thought are not possibilities at all on Descartes' view.

    Modality & Possibility
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.Whatever we clearly and distinctly perceive is true.
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    • 2.Truth is the conformity of thought with its object.
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    • 3.If a possibility is clearly and distinctly perceived, there must be an object to which the perception conforms.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Descartes explicitly grounds modal claims in divine omnipotence, not just clear and distinct perception (Replies to Objections VI).
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    • 2.God's power extends to possibilities that finite minds cannot clearly and distinctly conceive, meaning conceivability by humans is not the criterion for possibility.
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    • 3.Therefore, possibilities may be real without being objects of any human clear and distinct perception, undermining the claim's conflation of epistemic and ontological limits.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.In the Third Meditation, Descartes treats objective reality in ideas as a genuine mode of being, not mere nothingness.
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    • 2.If ideas possess degrees of objective reality, then a possibility existing in thought has a determinate ontological status within Cartesian metaphysics rather than no status at all.
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    Topics

    Modality & PossibilityTruth & Knowledge

    Connections

    2 topics

    Perception3 linkedPhilosophy of Language1 linked

    Related

    Descartes explicitly grounds modal claims in divine omnipotence, not just clear ...God's power extends to possibilities that finite minds cannot clearly and distin...If a possibility exists only in thought, there is no object to which the concept...If a possibility is clearly and distinctly perceived, there must be an object to...
    +6 moreShow less
    If ideas possess degrees of objective reality, then a possibility existing in th...In the Third Meditation, Descartes treats objective reality in ideas as a genuin...Possibilities not clearly and distinctly perceived are not part of Descartes' on...

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: descartes-modal
    View source passageHide passage
    These alleged possibilities (if they are anything) would be among all of the other creatures; they would be actuals. It might of course be the case that Descartes just insists that there are possible existents in addition to actual existents. Alternately, it might be the case that like Spinoza (in Ethics Part IV, definitions three and four), Descartes uses the expression “possible existence” to describe actually-existing creatures, and in a way that is consistent with a denial of non-actual rea
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Therefore, possibilities may be real without being objects of any human clear an...
    Truth is the conformity of thought with its object.
    Whatever we clearly and distinctly perceive is true.
    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit