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Later Descartes
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Descartes’s third model of perception is stated in the sixth Replies. This chapter explores the three ‘grades of sensory perception’ and argues that, for the first and only time in his career, Descartes here claims that we must use our awareness of color to judge the common sensibles. Descartes’s final model abandons this claim. Instead, his later works posit a purely causal explanation for the occurrence of sensations and ideas. It is still up to the mind to ‘refer’ these things to objects in the subject’s environment. This chapter concludes with an argument from Nicolas Malebranche that makes all four stages problematic. According to this ‘selection argument,’ there is no way for the mind to know which of its ideas or sensations it should summon (stage one), nor is there any way to know which object should be paired with which idea or sensation (stages two, three, and four).
Title: Later Descartes
Description:
Descartes’s third model of perception is stated in the sixth Replies.
This chapter explores the three ‘grades of sensory perception’ and argues that, for the first and only time in his career, Descartes here claims that we must use our awareness of color to judge the common sensibles.
Descartes’s final model abandons this claim.
Instead, his later works posit a purely causal explanation for the occurrence of sensations and ideas.
It is still up to the mind to ‘refer’ these things to objects in the subject’s environment.
This chapter concludes with an argument from Nicolas Malebranche that makes all four stages problematic.
According to this ‘selection argument,’ there is no way for the mind to know which of its ideas or sensations it should summon (stage one), nor is there any way to know which object should be paired with which idea or sensation (stages two, three, and four).
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