Cartesian intuition

British Journal for the History of Philosophy 31 (4):693-723 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper explicates Descartes’ theory of intuition (intuitus). Departing from certain commentators, I argue that intuition, for Descartes, is a form of clear and distinct intellectual perception. Because it is clear and distinct, it is indubitable, infallible, and provides a grade of certain knowledge he calls ‘cognitio’. I pay special attention to why he treats intuition as a form of perception, and what he means when he says it is ‘clear and distinct’. Finally, I situate his view in relation to those of his Scholastic predecessors on one hand and current theories on the other. His view anticipates the contemporary ‘perceptual model of intuition’, though it is much bolder with its promise of certainty.

Similar books and articles

Cartesian Clarity.Elliot Samuel Paul - 2020 - Philosophers' Imprint 20 (19):1-28.
Intuiting Intuition: The Seeming Account of Moral Intuition.Hossein Dabbagh - 2018 - Croatian Journal of Philosophy 18 (1):117-132.
Epistemic Functions of Intuition in Descartes.Monika Walczak - 2020 - Roczniki Filozoficzne 68 (2):43-61.
Descartes' Cogito: Saved From the Great Shipwreck.Husain Sarkar - 2003 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
The faculty of intuition.Steven D. Hales - 2012 - Analytic Philosophy 53 (2):180-207.
Descartes's critique of the syllogistic.Alexander Xavier Douglas - 2017 - History of Philosophy Quarterly 34 (4).
Descartes' Cogito : Saved from the Great Shipwreck (review).Stephen Voss - 2005 - Journal of the History of Philosophy 43 (4):490-491.
More Intuition Mongering.Moti Mizrahi - 2013 - The Reasoner 7 (1):5-6.
Intuition Mongering.Moti Mizrahi - 2012 - The Reasoner 6 (11):169-170.
The importance of cartesian triangles: A new look at Descartes's ontological argument.M. V. Dougherty - 2002 - International Journal of Philosophical Studies 10 (1):35 – 62.
Mathematical intuition.John-E. Nolt - 1983 - Philosophy and Phenomenological Research 44:189-212.
Clear and Distinct Perception in Descartes's Philosophy.Shoshana Smith - 2005 - Dissertation, University of California Berkeley

Analytics

Added to PP
2022-12-02

Downloads
1,328 (#7,846)

6 months
720 (#1,489)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Elliot Samuel Paul
Queen's University

Citations of this work

Certainly useless: empiricists’ uncomfortable relationship with intuition.Lewis Powell - 2023 - British Journal for the History of Philosophy 31 (4):724-743.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Is Justified True Belief Knowledge?Edmund Gettier - 1963 - Analysis 23 (6):121-123.
The Intellectual Given.John Bengson - 2015 - Mind 124 (495):707-760.

View all 36 references / Add more references