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The Correspondence Between Thomas HOBBES’S DECEIVING GOD: THE CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THOMAS HOBBES AND RENE DESCARTES Gabriela Gorescu Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS August 2015 APPROVED: Richard Ruderman, Major Professor Steven Forde, Committee Member Andrew Enterline, Committee Member Martin Yaffe, Committee Member Michael Greig, Chair of the Department of Political Science Costas Tsatsoulis, Interim Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Gorescu, Gabriela. Hobbes’s Deceiving God: The Correspondence between Thomas Hobbes and Rene Descartes. Master of Arts (Political Science), August 2015, 43 pp., references, 12 titles. In presenting their correspondence, I highlight the means in which Hobbes is able to divorce nature and politics in his philosophy. This is done by bringing to light Hobbes’s agreement with Descartes’s deceiving God argument. First, I demonstrate Hobbes’s hidden agreement with it by analyzing his objection to Descartes’s first Meditation. Second, I show that Hobbes and Descartes both retreat into consciousness in order to deal with the possibility of deception on the behalf of God. Third, I trace Hobbes’s rational justification for entertaining that very possibility. Fourth, I bring forward Hobbes’s certain principle, that God is incomprehensible. Fifth, I demonstrate Hobbes’s rationalization for rendering nature incomprehensible in turn. From this key insight, the differences between the two philosophers stand out more. Whereas Descartes rids himself of the possibility of a deceiving God, Hobbes does not. Sixth, I show that Descartes needs to rid himself of that possibility in order to have a basis for science, Hobbes’s science is such that he does not need to rid himself of that possibility. My investigation ends by considering both Hobbes’s and Descartes’s stance on nature, in relation to politics. I find that Hobbes’s principle is much more practical that Descartes’s principle. Hobbes’s principle is shown to be much more instructive and sustainable for human life. In conclusion, this analysis of the origins, principles, and orientation of the two philosopher’s thought brings forward the overarching question, whether the recovery of value and meaning is to be brought about in nature, or in civilization. Copyright 2015 by Gabriela Gorescu ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my father for always supporting my education, and my supportive committee for helping me put together this research project. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ............................................................................................................. iii INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 DESCARTES’S THREE ARGUMENTS ...................................................................................... 2 Uncertainty of the Senses....................................................................................................... 3 Dreaming Argument .............................................................................................................. 5 Deceiving God ....................................................................................................................... 7 HOBBES’S HIDDEN AGREEMENT ........................................................................................... 8 INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF GOD ......................................................................................... 15 INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF NATURE .................................................................................. 25 DECEIVING GOD AND NATURE ............................................................................................ 28 Descartes .............................................................................................................................. 28 Hobbes ................................................................................................................................. 30 INCOMPREHENSIBILITY OF GOD AND POLITICS ............................................................. 32 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................. 43 iv INTRODUCTION I will investigate the correspondence between Rene Descartes and Thomas Hobbes, which is published in the objections and replies section of the Meditations. In the objection and replies section, Hobbes demonstrates his agreement with Descartes’s deceiving God argument. The deceiving God argument refers to the possible existence of one or more intelligent being powerful enough to deceive us about everything we believe to be certain, even mathematics. Having previously secured all knowledge in the certainty of the principles of mathematics, it gives Descartes a powerful reason for reflecting on knowledge purely from the intellect, in order to secure knowledge. Hobbes seems to silently agree with the deceiving God argument. While Hobbes does not directly express his agreement with the argument overall, his acceptance of the argument is evident in his subsequent critiques of Descartes’s philosophy. Specifically, Hobbes relies on the deceiving God argument as he contests Descartes’s own refutation of the deceiving God argument. Throughout Hobbes’s critique, he maintains that we cannot rid ourselves of the possibility of a deceiving God. To Hobbes, insofar as the deceiving God scenario stands for the possibility of an incomprehensible God, he openly accepts it. Unlike Descartes, Hobbes does not need to rid himself of the possibility of a deceiving God in order for his philosophical project to function. The possibility allows him to establish the incomprehensibility of nature, as a result. Hobbes separates civilization from nature in order to orient his philosophy towards the political. Hobbes begins with a skeptical basis, and his foundation is ultimately much firmer than Descartes’s. Hobbes’s philosophy has the capacity to produce practical, and moral solutions with more expediency and prudence than Descartes’s. 1 DESCARTES’S THREE ARGUMENTS Hobbes begins his objection by establishing a point of agreement between him and Descartes. Hobbes “acknowledges the correctness” of the first Meditation.1 It is important to review Descartes’s argument in the first meditation in order to evaluate the implication of Hobbes’s acknowledgement. Descartes’s philosophy is a philosophy of presentation. We must bring his presentations of things to the forefront, before we can analyze Hobbes’s objection. In Meditation I, Descartes calls attention to methodological skepticism, which he will employ in order to establish a basis for science. Before he outlines the process that he will undertake for the project, he offers an explanation for adopting a skeptical point of view. Descartes begins by showing how skepticism can serve as a useful guide in attaining certainty. Specifically, skepticism is what leads the mind to doubt the very notions that we once accepted to be true. When we have a sense that those notions are uncertain, we are compelled to reflect on those notions more closely. We can use this response as a basis to arrive at a certain principle. Whatever is demonstrated to be the most certain principle will become the basis of knowledge. Descartes points to an example from his personal experience. When he reflects on the knowledge he acquired throughout his childhood, he realizes that there are many falsehoods which he accepted as true.2 Descartes only realized their “highly doubtful nature” after he had brought them to reflection later on in life, and had to build a “whole new edifice” that Descartes had based on those falsehoods.3 Now, Descartes must “demolish everything and start again from the right foundations”.4 Descartes will use his methodology to discover a foundation to ground 1 Cottingham, Stoothoff, and Murdoch. 1984. Philosophical Writings of Descartes. II, 171, pg. 121. Henceforth referred to as PWD. 2 PWD, II, 18; pg. 17 3 PWD, II, 18; pg. 17 4 PWD, II, 18; pg. 17 2 science. Descartes intends to discover a true basis to ground science that is as reliable as the principles of mathematics themselves. A firm and long-lasting foundation must draw its knowledge from the right sources. There are two sources for knowledge: the mind, and the senses. Descartes wishes to demonstrate that the most trustworthy source of scientific knowledge is the mind, whereas knowledge from the senses are uncertain and prone to error. Thus, Descartes hopes to lay out the groundwork for his foundation using knowledge derived from the mind, rather than knowledge derived from the senses. Descartes will demonstrate the unreliability of the senses by bringing them to doubt. By doing so, he will show that knowledge from the senses is open to doubt. He will introduce three main arguments. First, he will give reasons to prove the uncertainty of the senses. Although the senses are proven to produce erroneous conclusions, Descartes is able to rationalize his way out of the errors by appealing to common sense. Thus, Descartes will introduce two scenarios where he cannot rely on common sense to rid himself of sense deception. He will point to the difficulty involved in discerning the waking state from the dreaming state. Then, he will introduce a much more powerful argument than the previous one, known as the deceiving God argument. Uncertainty of the Senses First, Descartes will demonstrate the uncertainty of the senses. He will do this by describing
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