6/5/2023 0 Comments Rene descartes meditations![]() ![]() I call a perception distinctam if, as well as being clara, it is so sharply separated from all other perceptions that every part of it is clarum. He writes: ‘I call a perception claram when it is present and accessible to the attentive mind-just as we say that we see something clare when it is present to the eye’s gaze and stimulates it with a sufficient degree of strength and accessibility. If in the phrase clarus et distinctus Descartes meant clarus in its lesser meaning of ‘clear’, then what is there left for ‘distinctus’ to mean? Descartes doesn’t explain these terms here, but in his Principles of Philosophy 1:45–6 he does so-in a manner that completely condemns the usual translation. But in that phrase he uses clarus in its other meaning-its more common meaning in Latin-of ‘bright’ or ‘vivid’ or the like, as in clara lux = ‘broad daylight’. The word can mean ‘clear’ in our sense, and when Descartes uses it outside the clarus et distinctus phrase, it seems usually to be in that sense. The crucial point concerns clarus (and everything said about that here is equally true of the French clair). ![]() But the usual translation is simply wrong, and we ought to free ourselves from it. It concerns the Latin adjectivesĮvery other translator of this work into English has putĪnd for a while the present translator in cowardly fashion followed suit. [Before we move on, a translation matter should be confronted. ![]()
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