Descartes on Modality and the Eternal Truths
Descartes maintained that God freely created all eternal truths. Yet, while it is impossible for necessary truths to have been otherwise, if they are a matter of God’s free choice, then it seems that they could have been otherwise. Adrian W. Moore (2020) offers a solution to this conflict that, he...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
University of Bucharest
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Public Reason |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.publicreason.ro/pdfa/158 |
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| Summary: | Descartes maintained that God freely created all eternal truths. Yet, while it is
impossible for necessary truths to have been otherwise, if they are a matter of God’s free choice, then it seems that they could have been otherwise. Adrian W. Moore (2020) offers
a solution to this conflict that, he claims, Descartes “could and should” have adopted. This
article argues that Descartes’s position is in a sense closer to Moore’s solution than Moore
permits, yet proposes an arguably more accurate account via the Cartesian relationship
between omnipotence, indifference, and the dependence of the eternal truths on God.
Omnipotence and indifference do not express that God might have created the necessary
truths in another way, but rather that God’s decrees are in no way determined by anything
other than God. Thus, alternative possibilities are not relevant to this account, since there
were none before God’s creative act. |
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| ISSN: | 2065-7285 2065-8958 |