Fourth Meditation
E198124
Fourth Meditation is a section of René Descartes’ *Meditations on First Philosophy* in which he examines the nature of human error and the relationship between the intellect and the will.
All labels observed (2)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Fourth Meditation canonical | 5 |
| Fourth Meditation: Of the True and the False | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T1783656 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Fourth Meditation Context triple: [Meditations on First Philosophy, hasPart, Fourth Meditation]
-
A.
Fifth Head of Doctrine
The Fifth Head of Doctrine is the section of the Canons of Dort that sets out the Reformed teaching on the perseverance and preservation of the saints.
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B.
Mystagogia
Mystagogia is a theological work by Maximus the Confessor that offers a profound mystical and liturgical interpretation of the Christian church and its worship.
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C.
Higher Truth
"Higher Truth" is a 2015 acoustic-driven solo album by Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, showcasing his introspective songwriting and powerful vocal range.
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D.
The Divine Milieu
The Divine Milieu is a seminal spiritual and philosophical work by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that explores the presence of God in the evolving cosmos and everyday human experience.
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E.
Inner Light
Inner Light is the Quaker belief that a divine presence or spiritual guidance resides within every person, enabling direct, personal experience of the sacred without intermediaries.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Fourth Meditation Target entity description: Fourth Meditation is a section of René Descartes’ *Meditations on First Philosophy* in which he examines the nature of human error and the relationship between the intellect and the will.
-
A.
Fifth Head of Doctrine
The Fifth Head of Doctrine is the section of the Canons of Dort that sets out the Reformed teaching on the perseverance and preservation of the saints.
-
B.
Mystagogia
Mystagogia is a theological work by Maximus the Confessor that offers a profound mystical and liturgical interpretation of the Christian church and its worship.
-
C.
Higher Truth
"Higher Truth" is a 2015 acoustic-driven solo album by Soundgarden frontman Chris Cornell, showcasing his introspective songwriting and powerful vocal range.
-
D.
The Divine Milieu
The Divine Milieu is a seminal spiritual and philosophical work by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin that explores the presence of God in the evolving cosmos and everyday human experience.
-
E.
Inner Light
Inner Light is the Quaker belief that a divine presence or spiritual guidance resides within every person, enabling direct, personal experience of the sacred without intermediaries.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (46)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
chapter of a philosophical work
ⓘ
philosophical text section ⓘ |
| addressesQuestion | How can error exist if humans are created by a perfect and non-deceptive God? ⓘ |
| alternativeTitle |
Fourth Meditation: Of the True and the False
ⓘ
linked to:
Fourth Meditation
|
| arguesAgainst | the idea that God is a deceiver ⓘ |
| author | René Descartes ⓘ |
| centralConcept |
divine perfection
ⓘ
finite understanding ⓘ freedom of the will ⓘ intellect ⓘ judgment ⓘ privation ⓘ will ⓘ |
| claims |
clear and distinct perceptions are guaranteed by God to be true
ⓘ
error arises from the misuse of free will ⓘ error does not come from God ⓘ error occurs when the will assents beyond what the intellect clearly and distinctly perceives ⓘ human imperfection explains the possibility of error ⓘ humans are intermediate between God and nothingness ⓘ suspending judgment prevents error ⓘ the will is more extensive than the intellect ⓘ |
| discusses |
the moral responsibility involved in judgment
ⓘ
the scope of human knowledge ⓘ |
| explains |
how error is a privation rather than a positive reality
ⓘ
how human freedom is compatible with divine perfection ⓘ |
| follows | Third Meditation ⓘ |
| genre | metaphysical meditation ⓘ |
| historicalContext | Early modern philosophy ⓘ |
| includedIn | first edition of Meditations on First Philosophy ⓘ |
| influenced |
epistemology of judgment and assent
ⓘ
subsequent discussions of free will and error in modern philosophy ⓘ |
| language | Latin ⓘ |
| mainTheme |
nature of human error
ⓘ
problem of error in a world created by a perfect God ⓘ relationship between intellect and will ⓘ |
| originalTitle | Meditatio Quarta ⓘ |
| partOf | Meditations on First Philosophy ⓘ |
| philosophicalDomain |
epistemology
ⓘ
philosophy of mind ⓘ philosophy of religion ⓘ |
| philosophicalTradition | Rationalism ⓘ |
| precedes | Fifth Meditation ⓘ |
| publicationDate | 1641 ⓘ |
| setsUp | later Cartesian account of science based on clear and distinct ideas ⓘ |
| supports | the epistemic rule to assent only to clear and distinct perceptions ⓘ |
| workDate | 1640 ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Fourth Meditation Description of subject: Fourth Meditation is a section of René Descartes’ *Meditations on First Philosophy* in which he examines the nature of human error and the relationship between the intellect and the will.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Fourth Meditation