Think: A Compelling Introduction to Philosophy

by Simon Blackburn

Do I have an idea of a perfect mathematician? Well, I can start by thinking of a mathematician as one who never makes mistakes. But that is hardly adequate. A perfect mathematician would be imaginative and inventive as well. Now, with my very limited knowledge of mathematics, I only have a very confused understanding of what that would be like. In general, I cannot clearly comprehend or understand inventions before they come along—otherwise, I would be making the inventions myself! So perhaps it would take a perfect mathematician to give me a good idea (a ‘clear and distinct’ idea) of what a perfect mathematician would be like. Well, perhaps; but now it becomes doubtful whether I do have a clear and distinct idea of a perfect mathematician, and analogously, of a perfect being. Generally, what happens if I frame this idea is that I think more as I did when thinking of someone perfectly punctual. I think of an agent who never makes mistakes, never behaves unkindly, never finds things he cannot do, and so on. I might add in imagination something like a kind of glow, but it is clear that this will not help. It surely seems presumptuous, or even blasphemous, to allow myself a complete, clear, comprehension of God’s attributes.