Quotation
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“The scope of the will is wider than that of the intellect.”
René Descartes · Rationalism · Early modern · 1641
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the sentence as his account of error: the will can affirm or deny beyond what the intellect clearly sees, and that overreach, not a defect in God's gift of a finite mind, is where mistakes come from. Judgement is an act of will. A rival reading hears a praise of willpower over evidence, as if a wider will were a reason to believe more. He draws the opposite moral: withhold assent where perception is not clear; The claim is in the Fourth Meditation, on truth and falsity.
Did René Descartes really say this?
The library’s label is Paraphrase or translation. Cottingham's translation of the Fourth Meditation, Adam and Tannery volume seven, page 58. Error is traced to the will affirming more than the intellect clearly perceives. This wording is a translation.
Where it comes from
Meditations IV (AT VII 58)
Approximate date: 1641.
How to use it
In a group chat about a rumour at a school in Exeter, the intellect has a thin story and the will is ready to forward it. Descartes locates the fault in that readiness, not in the fact that nobody is omniscient. The remedy he wants is a suspension, not a louder confidence; The chat can still share what is actually known; It cannot honestly treat the gap as if the will had filled it.
A mindset reading
Wider will is not a compliment he thinks we should act on by believing more. It is the diagnosis of how a finite understanding produces error without God being a deceiver. The discipline is to match affirmation to what is clearly perceived; A rival reading, closer to later voluntarism about faith, uses the width of the will as a right to leap; The Fourth Meditation is trying to close that leap.
Understand the philosophy
The key term is the will, the power to affirm or deny, which he says is infinite in scope by comparison with the intellect's clear perceptions. Error happens when the two come apart. The Fourth Meditation is his theodicy of mistakes, after the Third has argued for a non-deceiving God. Cottingham's English is the guide; The practical twin of the claim is the rule about assent already stated in the Discourse.
- knowledge
- mind
- freedom
FAQ
What does it mean?
The usual reading takes the sentence as his account of error: the will can affirm or deny beyond what the intellect clearly sees, and that overreach, not a defect in God's gift of a finite mind, is where mistakes come from. Judgement is an act of will. A rival reading hears a praise of willpower over evidence, as if a wider will were a reason to believe more. He draws the opposite moral: withhold assent where perception is not clear; The claim is in the Fourth Meditation, on truth and falsity.
Did René Descartes really say this?
Paraphrase or translation. Cottingham's translation of the Fourth Meditation, Adam and Tannery volume seven, page 58. Error is traced to the will affirming more than the intellect clearly perceives. This wording is a translation.
Which work is it in?
Meditations IV (AT VII 58) Approximate date: 1641.