“How to Make Our Ideas Clear”

“How to Make Our Ideas Clear” Philosophy 1 Spring, 2002 G. J. Mattey

Clear and Distinct Conceptions • Logicians distinguish between conceptions in two ways • Clear vs. obscure • Distinct vs. confused • A clear idea is one that is recognized whenever it is met with • Never mistaken for another (rare) • So familiar that there is no hesitation in using it (common) • A distinct idea is one that has nothing unclear in it

A Priorism • Familiarity and abstract distinctness are outmoded as means of perfecting thought • Descartes tried to pass from the method of authority to that of a priority using clarity and distinctness as a sign of the a priori • He did not distinguish between being clear and seeming to be so • Leibniz got no further by trying to understand all conceptions in terms of definition

Economy • The easiest way to have clear ideas is to have meager and restricted ones • Those who have rich conceptions, primarily youth, are led astray • Intellectual maturity will help, but often it comes too late • Many people’s intellectual lives are ruined by their pursuit of unclear ideas

Thought and Belief • Doubt is hesitancy, and it stimulates the mind to action • It is overcome by a decision to act in a certain way, i.e., by belief • Active thought is primarily directed toward the production of belief, which is thought at rest • But application of belief raises new doubts • The ultimate end of thought is action

Pragmatism • Beliefs which produce the same action are the same • Different meanings are a function of different practices • We mean by our conception of wine the effects it has on our senses • Consideration of practical effects allows the highest degree of clarity

An Example: Freedom • Could I have resisted temptation and not done something of which I am ashamed? • The answer depends only on the possible arrangement of facts • Relative to the question of blame, yes • If I had willed to do otherwise, I would have done so • Relative to the question of the power of temptation, no • Some temptations have an irresistible effect

An Example: Force • Philosophers try to distinguish between force as acceleration and as cause of acceleration • Some say that force is an unknown cause • These distinctions make no practical difference • To know the accelerations and the laws governing them is to know what force is

Reality • There are three grades of clarity in our conception of reality • Familiarity: a child’s conception is clear in this way • Distinctness: the real is that whose characteristics are independent of what they are thought to be by any individual • Practice: the real is that which is destined to be agreed upon by all who investigate

Ideal Agreement • There is no conflict between the criteria of distinctness and practice • The real is independent only of what individuals think • The practical criterion is an ideal one, not depending on what any one individual may think • Even though the criterion of reality involves remote considerations, it gives us a clear conception of what reality is

“How to Make Our Ideas Clear”