Skip to content
Carmelics
TopicsThinkersChangesContributorsLoading account…

    Carmelics

    A reasoning platform. Break down any belief into clear reasons, explore both sides, and weigh the evidence honestly.

    Navigate

    • Topics
    • Search
    • Recent Changes
    • Contribute
    • How It Works
    • Glossary
    • Thinkers
    • Contributors
    • About
    • Statistics
    • Terms
    • Privacy

    Database

    Statements
    —
    Perspectives
    —
    Topics
    —

    Press ? for keyboard shortcuts

    LoyalLoyalJusticeJustice
    Made withinDC&Austin
    Statements
    321,452
    Perspectives
    108,905
    Topics
    42
    Home/Original/inverse
    See Original
    Inverse View

    It is not the case that Possibilities which exist only in thought are not possibilities at all on Descartes' view.

    ?Set your confidence on the premises below to see your aggregate.

    Reasons For

    2 perspectives
    Reason for 1 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Descartes explicitly grounds modal claims in divine omnipotence, not just clear and distinct perception (Replies to Objections VI).
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 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.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 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.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reason for 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.In the Third Meditation, Descartes treats objective reality in ideas as a genuine mode of being, not mere nothingness.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 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.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Reasons Against

    1 perspective
    Reason against
    ?
    • 1.Whatever we clearly and distinctly perceive is true.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 2.Truth is the conformity of thought with its object.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    • 3.If a possibility is clearly and distinctly perceived, there must be an object to which the perception conforms.
      ?

      Think about whether this reason is strong or weak

    Next step

    Based on where you are in your exploration

    Strongest counterpoint
    Explore the most compelling reason on the other side.