Scientia, diachronic certainty, and virtue

Synthese 198 (10):9165-9192 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In the Fifth Meditation Descartes considers the problem of knowledge preservation : the challenge of accounting for the diachronic certainty of perfect knowledge [scientia]. There are two general solutions to PKP in the literature: the regeneration solution and the infallible memory solution. While both readings pick up on features of Descartes’ considered view, I argue that they ultimately fall short. Salvaging pieces from both readings and drawing from Descartes’ virtue theory, I argue on textual and systematic grounds for a dispositionalist solution. On this view, the diachronic certainty of scientia is achieved through virtuous habits of belief.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,486

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-03-21

Downloads
66 (#337,062)

6 months
10 (#312,841)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Saja Parvizian
University of Illinois, Chicago (PhD)

Citations of this work

Descartes's Method for Achieving Knowledge.Elliot Samuel Paul - forthcoming - In Kurt Sylvan, Ernest Sosa, Jonathan Dancy & Matthias Steup, The Blackwell Companion to Epistemology, 3rd edition. Wiley Blackwell.
Descartes on certainty in deduction.Jacob Zellmer - 2024 - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 105 (C):158-164.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Descartes: The Project of Pure Enquiry.Bernard Williams - 1978 - Hassocks [Eng.]: Routledge.
Memory: A Philosophical Study.Sven Bernecker - 2009 - Oxford, GB: Oxford University Press.
Philosophy and Memory Traces: Descartes to Connectionism.John Sutton - 1998 - New York: Cambridge University Press.
Descartes: A Study of His Philosophy.Anthony Kenny (ed.) - 1968 - South Bend, Ind.: St. Augustine's Press.

View all 67 references / Add more references