Secada - Descartes On Time and Causality - 1990

Philosophical Review
Descartes on Time and Causality

Author(s): J. E. K. Secada
Source: The Philosophical Review, Vol. 99, No. 1 (Jan., 1990), pp. 45-72
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The Philosophical Review, Vol. XCIX, No. 1 (January 1990)
Descartes on Time and Causality
J. E. K. Secada
H istorians of philosophy commonly believe that Descartes took
time to be made up of temporal atoms.' H e is thought to
have believed in the discontinuity of time; and his conception has
been characterized as cinematographic. The standard view is that
Cartesian temporal atoms have no duration and, hence, are indi-
visible. Since Descartes never explicitly set forth his supposed at-
omism, the support for the established interpretation comes from
those passages where he holds that parts of time are mutually in-
dependent. These texts, some have argued, commit him to tem-
poral atomism.2 Nevertheless, the standard view has not altogether
lacked its critics. Jean Laporte and more recently Jean-Marie Bey-
ssade have objected to it, maintaining that Descartes held a doc-
trine of time as continuous.3 They have argued that Descartes
explicitly claimed that consciousness is not instantaneous. Further-
more, some have contended that from Descartes's denial of mate-
rial atomism the denial of temporal atomism follows.4
'See Jean Vigier, "Les idees de temps, de duree et d'eternite chez Des-
cartes," Revue Philosophique 89 (1920), pp. 196-233 and 321-348; Jean
Wahl, Du Role de l'Idge de lInstant dans la Philosophie de Descartes (Paris,
France: Alcan, 1920); Norman Kemp Smith, Studies in the Cartesian Philo-
sophy (New York, N.Y.: Russell & Russell, 1902), pp. 72-74 and 128-132;
and New Studies in the Philosophy of Descartes (London, England: Macmillan,
1952), pp. 202-203; M. Gueroult, Descartes selon l'ordre des raisons (Paris,
France: Editions Montaigne, 1953), I, pp. 272-285; and Mikio Kamiya,
La The'orie Cartesienne du Temps (Tokyo, Japan: France Tosho, 1982).
2A classical example is H . Gouhier's La Pense'e Metaphysique de Descartes
(Paris, France: J. Vrin, 1978), p. 135, note 79. Descartes's second axiom in
the Appendix to the Second Replies ("The present time does not depend on
that proximately preceding it . . .") is described as stating "la discontinuity
du temps."
3Jean Laporte, Le Rationalisme de Descartes (Paris, France: Presses Uni-
versitaires de France, 1945), pp. 158-160; Jean-Marie Beyssade, La Philo-
sophie Premiere de Descartes (Paris, France: Flammarion, 1979), pp.
346-354 and passim.
4Bernard Williams has suggested that the texts do not warrant the attri-
bution to Descartes of the claim that time is composed of durationless
atoms; but he has not developed this suggestion (Descartes: The Project of
Pure Enquiry (H armondworth, England: Penguin, 1978), pp. 192-193,
45
J. E. K. SECADA
In this paper I will argue that, as far as we can know, Descartes
had no views as to the continuity or discontinuity of time. The
texts concerning the mutual independence of parts of time will be
examined; and they will be shown to involve no such views. Simi-
larly, I shall give reasons to reject the claim that he was committed
to a view of time as continuous. Thus, contrary to the standard
view and to those who affirm the continuity of Cartesian time, I
will enter the discussion by opening a third front: Descartes had
no views on the matter, at least as far as we can ascertain. Instead, I
will argue that Descartes made a striking, though historically un-
derstandable, claim about causality; and that it is this claim which
is contained in the texts that have led to the attribution of atomism.
In the first part of the paper I will sketch my interpretation of the
relevant passages and compare some of Descartes's causal views
with those of his Scholastic predecessors. H owever, to present my
case fully I will need to examine the Cartesian notion of continuity.
This I do in the second part. There I shall argue that the Cartesian
conception does not differ from that of the Aristotelians. But, con-
trary to the received views, I will also maintain that it is not in any
direct conflict with the contemporary mathematical notion.
H aving thus become clearer about the concepts involved, I will be
able to formulate more precisely both the defended interpretation
and the matter at issue. Finally, in the third part I will address
possible objections to my claims and round up the argument
sketched in the first part.
I.
In the Meditations Descartes wrote that "all the duration of my
life can be divided into innumerable parts such that any one of
them is in no way dependent on another" (AT, VII, 48-49).5 In
note 6). More recently, Richard Arthur has criticized the standard view in
"Continuous Creation, Continuous Time: A Refutation of the Alleged
Discontinuity of Cartesian Time," in Journal of the H istory of Philosophy 26
(1988), pp. 349-375. But, with the caveat that he does "not mean to sug-
gest that Descartes had any well elaborated theory of what constitutes a
continuous duration" (p. 350), Arthur goes on to suggest that Descartes's
time is continuous (p. 357).
5All references to the works of Descartes are to the Adam and Tannery
edition (AT) (Paris, France: J. Vrin, 1964-1974).
46
DESCARTES ON TIME AND CAUSALITY
June 1647 he wrote to Chanut maintaining that, regarding the
world, "every moment of its duration is independent from the
others" (AT, V, 53). Similar passages are found in other works
(see, for example, AT, V, 155 and VII, 110 and 369). I should like
to draw attention to the fact that in these texts Descartes refers to
parts of time or moments of duration, but not to instants or to
temporal atoms. H is claim may be read as applying not only or
necessarily to instants but in general to segments of time. From the
contexts of some of the passages where the doctrine is stated it is
apparent that it was intended to be taken as asserting causal inde-
pendence. Thus, what Descartes maintained is that any lapse of
time, or indeed all time, can be divided into segments which are
causally independent.
In order to gain in clarity I shall introduce a few definitions
which borrow from set theory in what is now a common and ac-
cepted fashion.
1. Segments of time A and B are separate if, and only if, there
is no time which belongs to both A and B.
2. Segment of time A is causally active upon segment B if, and
only if, there is something existing during A which is the
cause of something existing during B. (Being causally de-
pendent is the inverse relation of being causally active.)
3. Segment of time A is causally independent of segment B if,
and only if, A is neither causally active nor causally depen-
dent on segment B.
For Descartes causality is, at least in some sense, a relation between
substances. The causal independence of parts of time is advocated
when the effect in question is the existence of a substance and the
cause some other substance. In the letter to Chanut, for example,
the effect is the future existence of material substance and the
supposed cause the past existence of matter. So the formulation in
these definitions does not distort his thought.
Using these definitions, we may formulate the following Prin-
ciple of the Independence of Separate Segments of Time:
All time can be divided into separate segments
such that for
any two such segments, one is causally independent
of the
other.
47
J. E. K. SECADA
The universal quantifier is intended to indicate that any time is
included in some segment. I take it that it is this principle that is
involved in the various texts of Descartes mentioned above.
Without prejudging the issue as to the continuity of time it is clear
that the divisions referred to may be, as Descartes maintains, in-
numerable even if time is finite at both ends. Also, the continuity
or discontinuity of time is independent of the issue as to whether
between two separate segments there need be a third; so the prin-
ciple accommodates the text from the Second Replies, which will be
examined later, where Descartes writes about the independence of
a moment from that immediately preceding it. On the other hand,
the expression "can be divided" (as opposed to "is divided") does
point, if at all, in a direction contrary to atomism and to separate
atoms of time given in reality. But it is an expression Descartes
himself used (dividi potest) in the passage quoted above from the
Meditations.
The principle just formulated does not entail or involve atom-
ism. My strategy will now be to show that it was taken by Des-
cartes to be established by means of considerations which are
themselves also independent of temporal atomism. In the course
of an argument for the existence of God in the Principles the claim
that "the parts of time do not depend at all on each other" is con-
nected with consideration of "the nature of time or the duration of
things" (AT, VIII- 1, 13). Indeed, I shall maintain that Descartes
took the principle to follow from "evident" features concerning
the nature of time and the relation of causality. Moreover, these
views concerning time and causality are akin to some views
adopted by most of the Scholastic movement, by Aristotle, by Saint
Thomas Aquinas, and by Francisco Suarez. Rather than being in-
novative or contentious on this matter Descartes was pointing out
what he took to follow from familiar and, he believed, correct doc-
trines.
One of the points involved is indeed evident and may be stated
thus:
If A and B are separate segments of time, then no part of A is
such that it is simultaneous with any part of B.
I take Descartes to be making this obvious point in the Principles
where he writes that "the nature of time or the duration of things
48
is such that its parts ... never exist simultaneously,"
precisely
when claiming their independence (AT, VIII-1, 13). It is also
found in Suarez (MD, for example, XL, 1, 13; L, 9, 19-26, passim)
and in Aquinas (ST, I, q.10, a.1).6 On the other hand, Descartes
makes the following point about causality:
An effect can be caused only by something which exists at the
time of its production.
While examining one of his arguments for the existence of God in
the First Replies, again in the context of upholding the indepen-
dence of parts of time, Descartes maintains that "the natural light
does not dictate that the notion of an efficient cause requires it to
be prior in time to its effect; on the contrary, it does not properly
have the nature of a cause but when it is producing its effect, and
hence is not prior to it" (AT, VII, 108). Descartes does not allow
the possibility of productive activity at a temporal distance. H e
argues that a cause is a cause only when producing its effect; but it
appears that he took it to be evident that the cause must exist at the
time its effect is being produced. We should note that it is only the
immediate cause, the first proximate member in the chain of
causal ancestry, that need be taken into account here. But as will
become apparent later this is not crucial; for according to Des-
cartes any causal ancestor is simultaneous with the effect.
The demand for simultaneity between cause and effect, though
less "evident," is no innovation of Descartes either. Following Aris-
totle in Metaphysics V, Suarez held that "if a cause is taken in actu
secundo it is necessarily simultaneous with its effect" (MD, XXVI, 2,
14; the relevant passage in Aristotle is 1014a20-25).7 By a cause
in actu secundo the Aristotelians meant a cause in act as opposed to
what is only potentially a cause. The potential cause was called in
actu primo or according to its vis agendi or power to act. As is
beyond dispute, Descartes is in conflict with the Aristotelians in-
6Aquinas's Summa Theologiae (ST) has been quoted from the edition by
Fr. Thomas Gilby, OP (London, England: Eyre and Spotiswoode,
1963-1975). For Suarez's Metaphysical Disputations (MD), the 1621 Mo-
guntiae edition of his Opera Omnia was used.
7Aristotle is quoted from the revised Oxford translation edited by Jona-
than Barnes (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1985).
49
J. E. K. SECADA
sofar as he rejects their notion of corporeal substance as form and
matter and their analysis of reality into act and potency. H e has no
place for the vis agendi or potentiality of efficient causes. For him a
cause is such only inasmuch as it produces an effect. But it is
misleading, to put it mildly, to extend this opposition to cover the
matter at issue.8 Both he and the Scholastics agree with Aristotle
that the cause in act is simultaneous with its effect. Descartes adds
further, and here he parts company with the Aristotelians, that the
nature of a cause qua cause consists solely in its acting as such and
not in its potency or vis agendi; for he does not allow for the notion
of a cause in actu primo. In any case the Aristotelians maintain only
the possible temporal precedence of the cause in actu primo. As
Suarez clearly puts it: "an efficient cause in itself may be prior in
time to its effect with respect to its absolute entity or vis agenda,
which Aristotle called cause in potency or in actu primo, but it is not
always necessarily so; for at times the effect of such a cause can be
equal in duration to it" (MD, XXVI, 2, 14).
Similarly, Aquinas writes that "a cause in act is what is actually
causing a thing.... [S]peaking of causes in act, the causing and the
caused must exist simultaneously.... But this is not necessary in
causes which are causes only in potency."9 When he states in the
Summa Theologiae that "it is not possible that something be its own
efficient cause, for it would then be prior to itself, which is impos-
sible," he should not be read as affirming that temporal prece-
dence is a requirement of efficient causality (I, q.2, a.3). The
Second Way, from which the quote above comes, is concerned with
simultaneous causes. There St. Thomas should be understood as
demanding not temporal priority but rather that the cause be, as
Suarez put it, "most plainly and properly prior in nature" to the
effect (MD, XXVI, 2, 14).10 What is being affirmed by Aquinas
8See E. Gilson, Etudes sue le Role de la Pensee Medievale dans la Formation
du Systeme Cartesien (Paris, France: J. Vrin, 1975), pp. 226-227. Another
late Scholastic source where the issue of the simultaneity between cause
and effect is discussed in detail and where basically the same view as
Suarez's is advocated is P. Fonseca, Commentariorum in Libros Metaphysi-
corum Aristotelis, V, 2, q. 18 (H ildesheim, West Germany: Georg Olms, 1964
reprint of Cologne, 1615), II, pp. 230-234.
9De Principiis Naturae, V, 364, in Aquinas, Opuscula Philosophica, ed. Fr.
R. Spazzi, OP (Turin, Italy: Marietti, 1973), p. 127.
'0Cf. Ferdinand Alquie's edition of Descartes's works, where he reads
Aquinas in the Second Way as demanding, in contrast to Descartes, the
50
and Suarez is that the effect depends on the cause, the produced
on the producer, and not vice versa. Descartes is not in conflict
with the Scholastics on this point. Replying to the objections by
Arnauld, he states that God is not strictly H is own efficient cause
because H e cannot be different from H imself, H e is not an effect
(an effect being considered "less noble" than the cause), and H e
does not conserve H imself through some "positive influx" nor
does H e continually "reproduce" H imself (AT, VII, 242-243).
Descartes, in agreement with Aquinas and Suarez, distinguishes
this point from the one involving temporal precedence.
In support of the claim that cause and effect are simultaneous
Descartes offers, as we have seen, the consideration that the nature
of a cause consists in causing or producing an effect. H e took this
to be a conceptual point. But even if it is granted the matter does
not appear to be settled. What the claim denies is that there can be
causal or productive efficacy at a temporal distance. But it could be
that something acquires the "nature of a cause" only when the ef-
fect is produced, without this on its own entailing that it must exist
at that time. Something may become a cause after it has ceased
being. H owever, the point behind Descartes's reasoning seems to
be that there must be an actual entity to bring about a production.
One may grant that a chain of activity gets started some time in the
past which culminates in a production when the originator of the
chain has passed away; but the intuition Descartes appears to ad-
vocate is that in the end there must be some existing thing which
produces the effect at the moment the effect is in fact produced.
This intuition is not difficult to appreciate even if it will be dis-
puted by those who have a conception of causality along the lines
of, for example, statistical conjunction. Descartes has little, if any-
thing, to say against such conceptions. But this is not something
which needs to be explored further here. It will suffice to say that
the Scholastic doctrine of efficient causality, which on this point
temporal priority of the cause in relation to its effect; (Paris, France: Edi-
tions Garnier Freres, 1963-1973), II, p. 527, note 1 and p. 683, note 2.
On the other hand, see Gilson, op. cit., pp. 208-209 and Gouhier, op. cit.,
pp. 135-141. I should point out, however, that I disagree with both
Gilson's and Gouhier's interpretation of Descartes's "cosmological" argu-
ment. Our differences stem, I believe, from my finding two separate Car-
tesian proofs from the effects: one from the idea of God and the other
from the existence of a substance that is not causa sui.
51
J. E. K. SECADA
Descartes was adopting, naturally demands that there be an ex-
isting producer to produce an effect.1'
Both of the claims about causality and the nature of time and
also the principle that separate segments of time are causally inde-
pendent involve no commitment to temporal atomism. Given that
Descartes may quite naturally be read along the lines I have pre-
sented, that he never does explicitly advocate atomism with respect
to time, and that such a doctrine generates more problems than it
solves, it seems reasonable to deem the matter untouched in his
works. Nevertheless more needs to be said; for the principle of the
independence of separate temporal segments does not follow from
the claims examined thus far. And the contrary view that Descartes
believed in the continuity of time has yet to be examined. Before
passing on to that, however, I will introduce some conceptual and
historical clarifications of the notion of continuity. This detour,
though somewhat lengthy, will prove to be necessary in order to
get a better grip on the issue before us.
II.
In his Commentary on the Physics, Cardinal Francisco Toledo,
wrote that those things are "continuous whose limits are one; con-
tiguous, those whose limits are together; successive, those between
which nothing of the same kind mediates" (VI, 1, 1; see also V, 3,
21-30).12 As was common in discussions of continuity
in the six-
teenth and early seventeenth centuries, Toledo was following Ar-
istotle. So was Suarez when he defined a continuum as "that whose
parts are joined by a common terminus," or when he maintained
that "the species of quantity are divided according to the various
modes- of divisibility, for continuous quantity . . . is divisible into
parts which were united by a common terminus, while discrete
11In Descartes Against the Sceptics (Oxford, England: Basil Blackwell,
1978), Edwin Curley points out that at least some of the grounds for the
simultaneity requirement can be found in Descartes's notion "that a cause
must be a sufficient condition of its effect" (p. 140). That Descartes is
committed to this notion is established from his implying that an effect
must follow (sequitur) from its cause in AT, VII, 49.
'2Toledo's Commentaria in octo libros Aristotelis de physica auscultatione (CP)
has been quoted from his Opera omnia philosophica (H ildesheim, West Ger-
many: Georg Olms, 1985 reprint of Cologne 1615-1616).
52
quantity is divisible into parts that do not have a common ter-
minus" (MD, XL, 5, 10 and XL, 4, 2). For two things to be in suc-
cession, according to Aristotle, it is necessary that they be in some
order and that there be nothing of the same kind between them
(Physics V, 3; 226b34-227al). When two things are in succession
and, further, they have boundaries which touch, they are contigu-
ous; if, finally, they share one common boundary, they are con-
tinuous, parts of one whole (227alO-15). This is the notion of
continuity which, I believe it is safe to assume, Descartes intended
when using the term continuess" and its cognates (for example,
AT, VI, 36; X, 451-452; see also, VIII-1, 48; though cf. V, 164).
Consider a series of houses. It will be continuous if the houses
are joined by common walls. If there are two limiting walls then
the houses can at most be contiguous. As Aristotle puts it: "conti-
nuity is impossible if these extremities are two" (227al3). Consider
one single continuous log of wood. We can divide it mentally at
any point, but, being continuous, that point will be the common
limit of the two parts of the division. If a division is entertained
which, without excluding any of the matter involved, has parts
which do not have a common limit, but each its own, then conti-
nuity is being denied at that division, for it involves nothing but a
discrete succession between two wholes, from the limit of one to
the limit of the next. Aristotle believes that bodies, time and place
are continuous. Thus, in the Categories he writes: "in the case of a
body one could find a common boundary-a line or a surface-at
which the parts of the body join together"; "present time joins on
to both past time and future time"; and, "place also is a continuous
quantity, since its parts join together at one common boundary"
(5a4- 14).
Consider now a continuous quantity such as a line. Wherever a
division of the line is entertained a point is found that serves as
common boundary to both resulting segments. "One point makes
continuous the two parts of one line," as Cardinal Toledo puts it
(CP, V, 3, 26). Indeed, it is never the case that two points in the
line, it being continuous, are found one immediately next to the
other. Between any two points in a continuous line there is always
a third one. For if this were not the case, then there would be two
points one next to the other and we would have, contrary to our
assumption, a division with two boundaries and not a single
common one. One could speak here of the "solitude" of points in a
53
J. E. K. SECADA
line. Following more common usage I will call this property the
density of the line. It is the density of the line which accounts for
its infinite divisibility. Since between any two points in a line there
is a third, any line, being enclosed between two points, is divisible
into smaller lines at such a third point. As this holds also for the
resulting lines, it follows that a line is divisible in infinitum.
From Aristotle's understanding of continuity it follows that a
continuous quantity is dense and Aristotle acknowledged this. In
the Physics he wrote that "it is plain that everything continuous is
divisible into divisibles that are always divisible" (VI, 1; 231b15-
16). And later: "everything continuous is divisible into an infinite
number of parts" (VI, 8; 239a22). On these matters the late Scho-
lastics were in complete agreement with Aristotle. They followed
him and agreed that continuity entails density. Thus Toledo: "be-
tween the points something must mediate, namely a line; for in a
continuum two points cannot be one immediately next to the
other" (CP, V, 3, 29-30). And Suarez: "a continuum ... is always
divisible into divisibles" (MD, XL, 5, 34). I will suppose, again un-
contentiously, that on this matter Descartes also followed the es-
tablished, Aristotelian, view.
Aristotle and his Scholastic followers claimed, further, that den-
sity entails continuity and, therefore, that density and continuity
are equivalent. Suarez wrote that "discrete quantity . .. is not infi-
nitely divisible, unlike continuous quantity" (MD, XLI, 5, 16; see
also MD, XIII, 2, 4). Aristotle defined continuity in terms of den-
sity: "by continuous I mean that which is divisible into divisibles
that are always divisible" (Physics, VI, 2; 232b24). In On the H eavens
he claimed that "a continuum is that which is divisible into parts
always capable of subdivision" (I, 1; 268a7). It is at this point that
contemporary and early modern usages part company. Because of
considerations which arise from within his own philosophy, how-
ever, Descartes must also take leave of his peripatetic companions
at this juncture. Since explicitly he never takes them on as fellow
travellers, I am not willing to assume he too believed that density
entails continuity.
The issue is whether there can be a quantity which is dense but
yet discrete, with parts not joined by a common terminus. One way
in which a quantity can be discrete is by indeed having parts each
with its own boundary and, hence, being also not dense. The ques-
tion is whether this is the only possible way. And it seems the an-
54
swer is "no"; for a series could be divisible into parts which lack a
common limit not because each has its own but rather because
there is none. This is the case if one supposes a division in a line
such that neither of the two adjoining parts has a first or a last
member. Since at that division there is no common terminus, those
parts are not continuous. Such a dense quantity would be divisible
not only at its infinitely many points but also, let us suppose, at
infinitely many discontinuities where the resulting parts have nei-
ther each its own terminus nor a common one.
The Aristotelians distinguished between intrinsic and extrinsic
boundaries. Intrinsic limits are last or first members of a series.
Extrinsic termini are not themselves members of the terminated
series. Rather, all members before or after them, as the case may
be, are in the series, which is thus bound by its extrinsic terminus,
as it were from the outside. "Being extrinsically bound" and "being
intrinsically bound" are contraries, so that if a series has an ex-
trinsic limit, it does not also have a possible intrinsic boundary ter-
minating it at that end. A quantity which is not dense has parts
bound each by an intrinsic limit. A quantity which is continuous
has parts bound both by one single point, which is indifferently
intrinsic to one and extrinsic to the other (see MD, XL, 5, 4 and
55). A dense quantity with parts immediately next to each other
each of which is extrinsically bound is not continuous. Such parts
are limited, it is clear, by an extrinsic terminus which is not itself a
part of the quantity. For the parts are assumed to be immediately
next to each other; and any point in one selected to act as extrinsic
limit of the other will fail to be a first or last member ex hypothesi,
thereby failing also to serve as boundary for the other part. So the
parts are not joined by a common limit, but separated by that dis-
continuity. Since each part has no last or first member around the
discontinuity (again, otherwise that would be its intrinsic limit and
it is supposed not to have one), density is still preserved there.
The possibility of such adjoining extrinsically bound dense parts
seems to have been considered by Suarez. H e pointed out that "it is
not necessary that all things immediately next to each other be
continuous or contiguous, if each of the two is not intrinsically
bound." (See MD, XL, 5, 66; "Neque est necesse ut omnia quae sunt
immediate sint continua aut contigua, nisi utrumque sit intrinsice termi-
natum.") The example Suarez is discussing immediately before he
makes this comment is that of two different forms which are in-
55
J.
E. K. SECADA
stantiated immediately one next to the other, one having a last (or
first) point while the other not. These two quantities are not con-
tinuous because one form is not instantiated in the intrinsic limit of
the quantity of the other form, so the limit is not common to the
quantity of both forms. Such a case is different from the one that
he appears to consider in the quoted text, which may be naturally
read as stating that neither one nor the other part is intrinsically
finished.'3 Thus, without needing to force the text, I take Su'rez
to be making a point to reinforce and round up his discussion of
an otherwise different case, rather than to be restating what he
had already clearly stated. The point he makes is that adjoining
parts which are both extrinsically bound are also, and perhaps
more clearly, neither continuous nor contiguous. Suarez did not
elaborate on this matter. But he did provide the elements for an
argument that such a possibility, a dense but discrete quantity, is
irrelevant to discussions of continuity.
Aristotelian discussions of quantity and continuity are governed
by intuitions which arise from consideration of the structure of
body, space, and time. Concerning an actual division of continuous
matter into two parts Suarez wrote that "the common continuative
term of the matter is lost (amittatur) and two terminating or ex-
treme ones result (resultant)," adding shortly thereafter that the
common point is destroyed ("destruantur") since it cannot be in
both parts and "there is no reason why it should be in one rather
than the other" (MD, XL, 5, 55 and 56; see also XL, 5, 34; other
terms used in expressing this destruction and resulting are "tol-
litur" and insurgentt"). "H ow these terms are made is difficult to
explain"; Su'arez continues, "for it is not philosophical to admit
some creation or annihilation there" (MD, XL, 5, 56). H e adds,
hesitantly and rather obscurely, that "it appears that one should
say that these material terminating indivisibles are made by re-
sulting from the very parts of the matter
(fieri
per resultantiam ab
ipsis partibus materia)." But one can see the kind of argument for
the discontinuity of matter that Suarez might preempt here. It
may be sketched as follows: matter cannot be annihilated or cre-
ated; no part of matter can be extrinsically limited in re; therefore,
13To express the possibility he had just exemplified Suarez might have
used "alterutrum" rather than "utrumque."
56
continuous matter cannot be divided in re. Such reasoning leads,
with the addition of the premise that matter is actually divisible, to
the conclusion that matter is not continuous. Succinctly, Suarez
would argue that one can pass from one continuing point to two
terminating ones without creating or annihilating matter.
In the case of two forms instantiated one next to the other and
both limited extrinsically, the extrinsic limit is a point in the con-
tinuous quantity of the matter, but not in the discrete quantity of
the forms. Suarez distinguished between things quantitative pri-
marily and derivatively, or per se and per accidens. The form of
quantity itself is the former, while the forms in the example are the
latter. Now, while quantities per accidens can be terminated extrin-
sically in re, a thing quantitative per se is such that "if it is not contin-
uous with another, it always has an intrinsic terminus, for this
arises naturally and there is no contrary to stop it" (MD, XL, 5, 66).
So Suarez concluded that "in these cases all quantities are either
continuous or properly contiguous."
If we examine the possibility of extrinsically limited material
parts in re, we can recover the considerations that led Suarez to the
speculations I have just outlined. Consider a solid and dense rec-
tangular body which is terminated merely extrinsically on one side.
We assume, then, that there will be no surface on that side which is
last. There will not be, for example, a surface of the body which
could be painted or touched. For any surface we take as a pictorial
or tactile candidate will have other surfaces belonging to the body
coming between it and our brushes and toes. Nor could such a
body, if opaque, be seen on that side. What surface will we see?
Again if the surface is part of the body, then there are other sur-
faces which are part of the body between it and our organ. Suarez
does write that "quantity is not actual extension in space, but apti-
tudinal (aptitudinalis), and this the body can retain even if not actu-
ally in extended space" (MD, XL, 2, 22). Still, whatever such apti-
tude for extension comes to, it was understood as involving the
claim that merely extrinsically bound quantities per se are not actu-
ally given.
Contemporary discussions follow Richard Dedekind's definition
of continuity in his Essays on the Theory of Numbers. A continuous
straight line is such that "[i]f all points of the straight line fall into
two classes such that every point of the first class lies to the left of
every point of the second class, then there exists one and only one
57
J. E. K. SECADA
point which produces this division of all points into two classes, this
severing of the straight line into two portions."'4 Though Dede-
kind writes of a line, it is not difficult to see how his account could
be extended to terms of quantities in general. And it is clear how
continuity differs from density. An account of density is obtained
by using Dedekind's formulation and changing it by substituting
"there do not exist two adjoining points which produce" for "there
exists one and only one point which produces." A series could be
dense and discrete when there is no dividing member, rather than
one or two. As it happens, this is the case of the rational
numbers.'5 One can divide all the rational numbers into parts that
have neither a largest nor a smallest member: for example, at the
square root of two. All rationals are either larger or smaller than
the square root of two, the square root of two is not itself a rational
number, and there are no rational numbers closest to the square
root of two. Between any two rationals there is always a third, as-
suring the density of the series; but also, between any two rationals
there is always an irrational number, assuring that the continuity
of a common point will be lacking there.
The non-equivalence of density and continuity does not settle
whether it follows from the density of matter that it is continuous.
As suggested, it may be argued that there cannot be in re parts of
matter bound by extrinsic termini. Given the Aristotelian doctrine
concerning the relation between the continuity and quantity of
matter, and that of space, it is not difficult to see how a Scholastic
might apply this to discussions regarding the latter. Whether such
arguments, and the intuitions on which they rest, are granted is a
different matter. But the proper attitude, certainly, is not to ignore
the distinction between the dense and the continuous nor to feign
14R. Dedekind, "Continuity and Irrational Numbers," in op. cit. (La
Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 1948), p. 11. A contemporary presentation of the
distinction between continuity and density is found in W. H . Newton-
Smith, The Structure of Time (London, England: Routledge and Kegan
Paul, 1980), pp. 112-114; Bertrand Russell, The Principles of Mathematics
(New York, N.Y.: W. W. Norton, n.d.), Part IV, includes an extended dis-
cussion of continuity with a few historical references.
'5Rational or commensurable numbers are those equal to the quotient
of two integers. Irrational or incommensurable numbers, such as the
square root of two or the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a
circle, are not equal to the quotient of any two integers.
58
that the distinction is not possible within an Aristotelian frame-
work. The distinction is expressible with the conceptual resources
of Scholastic Aristotelianism, as we have seen. Further, I have ar-
gued that a case involving this distinction was explicitly mentioned
by Suarez.
The issue which arises here is that concerning the relationship
between mathematics, number series, and, more generally, con-
ceptually possible orderings on the one hand and, on the other,
realities such as space, material substance, and time, in particular
with regards to their continuity. That the mathematical and the
natural cannot always be treated together had already been noted
among the Aristotelians well before Suarez. Such was the case,
for example, when it was maintained that Aristotle's definitions of
contiguity and continuity were not distinguishable mathemati-
cally.16 In a similar vein, one might argue that mathematical or
abstract orderings which are dense but discontinuous have no rele-
vance to discussions of the continuity of matter and space.
It is unclear to me how to transfer the intuitions regarding
matter and space to the discussion of the continuity of time. In
other words, I am not sure that in the case of time any similar
moves can be made to resist considering the possibility of a dense
and discrete ordering. Time, in fact, is only derivatively a quantity.
16Aristotelian contiguity requires limits that are together, touching, or in
the same place. It does not appear to be possible to distinguish mathema-
tically two points in a line except through their position or place. This
might explain Descartes's impatience with the notion in the exchange with
Burman (AT, V, 164). See Edith Dudley Sylla, "Infinite Indivisibles and
Continuity in Fourteenth-Century Theories of Alteration," in Norman
Kretzmann, ed., Infinity and Continuity in Ancient and Medieval Thought
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1982), pp. 233 and 256. Some of
Aristotle's texts on continuity are conveniently collected as an appendix to
this book. On the other hand, I am not persuaded by the treatment that is
given to the relation between Scholastic and contemporary views on the
continuum in some of the papers in this collection (for example, Sylla's
and N. G. Normore, "Walter Burley on Continuity," pp. 258-269). The
contrasts which are drawn are not clear to me. And late Scholastic treat-
ments of these issues, like Toledo's and Sudrez's can be interpreted
without involving them in any direct conflict with contemporary mathe-
matical discussions. Richard Sorabji, Time, Creation, and the Continuum
(Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1983), Part V, discusses some of
these topics; but it seems to me that his treatment of the relation between
density and continuity and of the Aristotelian notion of continuity itself is
defective (see for example p. 369 and p. 405 note 3).
59
J. E. K. SECADA
As Suarez wrote: "successive things ... are not quantitative per se,
but per accident" (MD, XL, 1, 12; see also XL, 9, 4 and, in the same
section, paragraphs 9 and 12).17 What is in any case clear and cer-
tain is that Descartes cannot make use of the Scholastic specula-
tions even in the case of space and the extended substance. For it is
a central doctrine of his philosophy that matter can be treated
purely geometrically and, furthermore, that geometry can be
treated purely arithmetically. H e recommends that we avoid sen-
sorial intuitions and
resorting
to the
imagination
when
discussing
the nature of matter and space. Mathematical possibilities are, in a
Cartesian treatment of these topics, natural possibilities. I take this
to be well established and in need of no further documentation.
In short, though Descartes may be safely assumed to have used
the Scholastic notion of continuity, it seems to me unnecessary and
unjustified to suppose he also went along with the identification of
continuity and density. H is predecessors had ways of defending
such an identification which are not open to him. And the fact that
it is a common mistake to forget the Aristotelian context and take
the identification to hold mathematically and purely conceptually
is no good reason to attribute this error to Descartes, particularly
in the light of Suarez's rather sophisticated treatment of the issue.
But I am not obliged to maintain that Descartes believed density
does not entail continuity. My claim is that he believed neither the
one nor the other. Furthermore, even if it is argued, contrary to
my views, that in the case of space and matter Descartes did, un-
warrantedly though perhaps understandably, collapse continuity
into density, it does not follow immediately that he must have done
the same in the case of time.
Be that as it may, the issue as to the continuity or discontinuity
of Cartesian time is one that, at least among some of the more
prominent contributors to the discussion, has involved the view
that time is dense yet discrete. Thus Gueroult wrote that Cartesian
'7There are well-known arguments by Aristotle to the effect that time,
place and matter all must either be discrete or continuous (Physics, VI,
1-2; 231b18-233a20). H owever, these arguments do not address the
possibility of a discrete time which is, nevertheless, dense. They involve
only the density of time, as is clear in the quoted text. In the case of matter
this would amount to its continuity. Such arguments might account for the
transference of the implication from density to continuity from the case of
matter and space to the case of time. But they do not necessitate it.
60
"time can . . . be conceived as indefinitely divisible without it fol-
lowing necessarily from this property that it is continuous."18
H ence, the issue might be cast in terms of what Descartes was com-
mitted to holding, regardless of whether he did believe it.
This leads to historiographical questions which need to be made
explicit. When discussing Cartesian views of time it is necessary to
be clear about the exact nature of the historical problem con-
fronting us. One possibility is that we are inquiring whether Des-
cartes himself held time to be continuous or discrete. Though, of
course, a text can decide the question affirmatively in a straight-
forward manner (leaving aside issues regarding changes in his be-
liefs), the lack of extant texts where he professes a belief on the
matter is not sufficient to decide the issue negatively. Beliefs may
be inferred in a variety of ways. For example, when an inference
from beliefs made explicit in writing to some other belief never
explicitly acknowledged would have been immediate and obvious
to the subject himself, it is wrong to deny that he explicitly believed
the inferred belief solely because there is no remaining written tes-
timony. Though there is here the danger of being exuberant, one
should also beware of the pitfalls of excessive austerity.
A second possibility is that of inquiring not whether Descartes
believed time to be continuous or discrete, but rather whether he
was committed to believing one or the other. A minimal condition
required for an affirmative answer to this question is that the be-
lief in question be formulable using the conceptual baggage avail-
able to Descartes himself. It should not be claimed that somebody
is committed to a belief he could not possibly understand. Evi-
dently, the belief must follow from other beliefs he held. But it is
not required that Descartes himself ever have recognized the im-
plication or ever have formulated the belief.'9
'8Gueroult, op. cit., p. 275. Gueroult's own account of continuity is
rather unclear: discontinuity is defined, he writes, by "la contingence, la
separation et l'indgpendance re'ciproque des parties" (p. 273). But his notion of
continuity is not one which can be equated with density. On the other
hand, N. K. Smith, in his Studies in the Cartesian Philosophy, p. 132, exem-
plifies the more common practice by identifying both.
'9There is a still weaker sense in which we might enquire whether a
belief merits the label "Cartesian": when Descartes neither held it nor
could have understood it, yet it does follow from doctrines which he held
or was committed to. I should add that I am unsure as to the claim that
61
J. E. K. SECADA
H aving clarified the historical problems which we might address
concerning the continuity or discreteness of Cartesian time and
being clearer also about the notions of continuity and discreteness
with which Descartes was operating, we can now return to our
main concern. First, I hold that Descartes believed time is dense.
Second, I maintain that he neither believed nor was committed to
believing that time is continuous or that it is discrete. Third, I hold
that the claim that time is continuous (not merely dense) is ex-
pressible using terminology available to Descartes himself.
III.
In a text I have quoted from the Meditations Descartes requires
that there be innumerable parts in a finite segment of time (the
duration of his life up to the point of writing that text; AT, VII,
48-49). For this to be the case there must be some stage at which
time is dense, though not necessarily continuous. But if time is
homogeneous, then the density must be found at all stages. This
establishes that Descartes believed time is dense. Now, if this text is
taken to refer to atoms, then one could not speak about a temporal
atom and the one coming immediately before or after it. H owever,
in the Second Replies Descartes wrote that "the present time has no
causal dependence at all on that which has immediately preceded
it" (AT, VII, 165). If this passage and that from the Meditations are
interpreted atomistically, then Descartes requires both that a finite
duration have infinite atoms and therefore be dense and that there
be an atom immediately preceding another atom and thus that
time not be dense. I have argued that he need not be interpreted
atomistically in either of the two passages, or for that matter any-
where. If in the Second Replies he is not taken to be referring to
non-enduring instants with the phrases "the present time" and
"the time immediately preceding it," then no problem arises.20
there are beliefs Descartes could not have understood: the counterfactual
conditions have to be made clear. To say, loosely, that they are not ex-
pressible in the vocabulary Descartes used is not good enough, for one
might argue that, ultimately, any belief will be so expressible if enough
explication and circumlocution is permitted.
201n his recent alleged refutation of the view that Descartes took time to
be discontinuous, Richard Arthur maintains that density is among "twen-
62
It ought to be clear that belief in temporal atomism is indepen-
dent of belief in the existence of instantaneous events. H ence, Des-
cartes's doctrine that the transmission of light is instantaneous and
the problems that might be generated for his physics by H uyghen's
discovery that the speed of light, though large, is finite are, on
their own, irrelevant to the issue under examination.21
On the other hand, it should also be clear that Descartes's claims
to the effect that conscious mental events take time and are not
instantaneous are equally independent of views as to the continuity
of time.22 In particular, it is not the case that defenders of Carte-
sian temporal continuity can ground their views on such claims.
tieth-century criteria of continuity" (op. cit., p. 350) and that it is anachro-
nistic to argue that Descartes believed in the discontinuity of time on the
basis of his writing of neighboring instants in AT, VII, 370 and V, 193.
First, Descartes writes of neighboring moments (singula momenta posse a
vicinis separari; hoc momento ... momento proxime sequenti) and not of neigh-
boring instants. In this issue the difference between divisible enduring
moments and indivisible durationless instants is crucial; and whatever the
general imprecision in Descartes's use of these terms, here he is clear.
Arthur argues against attributing this distinction to Descartes using texts
such as: "this cannot endure (durare) even for the minimum point of time,
which they call an instant" (AT, VIII-1, 115) and "there is some cause
which. . . creates me afresh at this moment (ad hoc momento) . . ." (AT, VII,
49; apparently, the point here is that Descartes does not say "through this
moment," but "at this moment"; see also AT, VIII- 1, 159). But this is just
to expect and demand the precision of technical use where it is not in-
tended. When it matters, Descartes does not confuse enduring segments
with instants. The only "textual inconsistencies" (p. 369) in these passages
are those generated in the minds of some commentators. Second, if
Descartes had written of neighboring instants and had thereby denied that
time is dense, then he would have been committed to the claim that time is
discontinuous, in a sense which is common to us and to him and his six-
teenth- and seventeenth-century Scholastic contemporaries and predeces-
sors. On the other hand, Arthur's charge of "anachronism" (p. 350) af-
fords us with a striking example of conceptual confusion leading to lack of
historical understanding.
2'Contrast Gueroult, op. cit., pp. 272-274. See below note 26.
22Contrast Laporte, op. cit., p. 159; and Beyssade, op. cit., pp. 135-136
and 346. In the latter passage Beyssade seems to claim a connection: "Si,
comme le veut la these discontinuiste, toute intuition devait etre enfermee dans un
instant...." Unfortunately, it appears that he sees this connection as evi-
dent, so he does not explain it. Though, to be fair, he might just be
echoing the claim that there is such a connection which defenders of Car-
tesian temporal atomism have made; see, for example, Yvon Belaval,
Leibniz critique de Descartes (Paris, France: Galimard, 1960), pp. 149-150.
63
J. E. K. SECADA
One may consistently hold both that time is made up of discon-
tinuous instants and that thinking always takes time. Indeed,
without deciding on the issue of the continuity or discontinuity of
time, one ought to distinguish between the specious present of
consciousness and the instantaneous present involved in discus-
sions of temporal atomism. It is this distinction which dissolves the
contradiction that Beyssade finds between the claim in the Rules
that intuition, while not instantaneous, is given (psychologically)
"tota simul et non succesive" (AT, X, 407) and the claims that dif-
ferent parts of time are not simultaneous (strictly). So there is no
need here to bring in a "concept cartesien de continuity" as Beyssade
does.23
It might be objected that by distinguishing between the instanta-
neous present and the present of consciousness, I am not taking
into account Descartes's doctrine that the real duration of sub-
stances and the time abstracted from it are, like extension, the es-
sence of matter, and the space abstracted from it, distinct not in
reality but only by reason (AT, VII, 369-370 and VIII-1, 27).
This is not so. If there be instantaneous temporal atoms, still there
need not be either instantaneous movement or instantaneous
thought. The notion that the duration of my thought is composed
of atomic instants is compatible with the claim that my thought
could not exist during only one such instant; just as the claim that
the duration of my bodily movement across the room is made up
of durationless atoms is compatible with Descartes's assertion that
no motion occurs in an instant (AT, VIII-1, 64 and XI, 45). If
conscious thought and souls require a span of time in order to
exist, there could still be discontinuities during their existence. It
does not follow that, if there are such discontinuities, then it must
be possible for the souls to exist only in the interval, which could
be instantaneous, between two proximate discontinuities.24 More-
over, the defender of Cartesian temporal continuity must tread
230p. cit., p. 347.
24In the Conversation with Burman, Descartes distinguishes the divisibility
of the duration of thought from the divisibility of its nature in a text which
could be read as supporting my argument (AT, V, 148). H owever, the
passage is obscure; and I would not wish to rest much on it. See also John
Cottingham's commentary on the Conversation (Oxford, England: Clar-
endon Press, 1976), pp. 59-60.
64
carefully here. H e might end up committed to the existence of
enduring indivisibles. And he would ensure that time is not dense
by requiring that the specious present of consciousness be the
minimum unit into which time can be divided. Anyhow, even if
none of the above is granted, the undisputed claim that motionless
material substance could exist for only an instant should be
enough to take care of the objection and make sense of the idea of
the real duration of any substance being made up of instanta-
neous atoms.
Descartes rejected atomism with respect to matter and some may
argue that this entails a rejection of atomism with respect to time.25
Thus, the continuity of Cartesian time would be established. If this
is so, at least it is not obviously so, and there are reasons to believe
it is not so at all. Descartes's rejection of material atomism can be
grounded on two arguments. First, he held that however small a
bit of matter, if it has any dimension at all, it is divisible even fur-
ther. H ence, there can be no ultimate material atoms which,
having size, are indivisible. This straightforward attack is explicitly
directed against classical atomistic views (AT, III, 213-214; V,
273-274; VI, 238-239; VII, 51-52).26 But -the argument does
25See Gueroult's suggestion that Laporte argued thus in op. cit., p. 272.
26Descartes held also that matter is, at least sometimes, infinitely di-
vided. In the letter to More of 5 February 1649 (AT, V, 273-274), while
arguing that there can be no extended but indivisible atoms, he suggests
that God could have carried out the infinite division of matter. And in
Principles, II, 34 (AT, VIII- 1, 59-60) he maintains that the infinite divi-
sion of matter sometimes does actually take place. On the other hand, it is
important to notice that in view of these texts and the fact that Descartes
apparently did not take them to commit him to material atomism, special
care should be taken when claiming that belief in instants involves at-
omism. The doctrine of the production of movement by continual recre-
ation at every instant, which helps him "deduce" the laws of motion from
the nature of God and distinguish between the vectorial and the quantita-
tive elements in movement, would only commit Descartes to atomism if he
stated it so as to imply that the succession of temporal instants is not dense
or not continuous. This he does not do (AT, VIII-1, 61-66; XI, 37-38
and 43-46). Suarez, who certainly was not an atomist, wrote that "be-
tween two points in a line there are infinite other points" (MD, XL, 5, 43).
And dealing directly with time he stated: "time exists by means of instants,
so that its indivisible parts truly and really flow and after any instant a part
follows and in any part there are instants and between any instants there is
a flowing part" (MD, L, 9, 22).
It is interesting to note that Descartes probably grew out of material
atomism: see his early piece to Beeckman in AT, X, 68.
65
J. E. K. SECADA
not work against atomism if the ultimate atomic constituents are
thought to be dimensionless. And this is precisely the case with the
discontinuous view of time that has been ascribed to him, for Car-
tesian temporal atoms are thought to be instantaneous. To argue
against all atomism merely from the consideration of infinite divis-
ibility is just to confuse density and continuity. This may indeed be
the problem with Beyssade's claim that in solving Zeno's paradox
Descartes treats both time and space as continuous.27 For though
he does offer a homogeneous treatment of space and time when
dealing with this paradox, the point at issue is only one of infinite
divisibility, not one involving continuity or discontinuity (AT, IV,
445-447 and 499-500).
Second, one may argue against material atomism from Des-
cartes's rejection of a vacuum. Classical atomism included belief in
the existence of a vacuum as much as in the existence of material
atoms. According to such a view, it should be noticed, the conti-
nuity of space is compatible with the discreteness of matter. Now,
given that for Descartes material substance is just existing exten-
sion, no such thing as a vacuum-extension without substance-is
possible (AT, V, 52, 271-273; VIII-1, 49-50; see also I, 140 and
413). It does not appear to be the case that this line of reasoning
can be applied to the issue of temporal atomism.28 H ence, the Car-
tesian attack on material atomism should not lead to the claim that
he held that time is continuous. Moreover, it should be noticed
that Descartes's criticisms of the beliefs in small but indivisible ma-
terial atoms and in a vacuum can be expounded without raising
questions which, in order to be properly treated, would require
him to distinguish between density and continuity.
As I indicated earlier, it may be objected that the principle of the
independence of separate segments of time does not follow from
the considerations we have examined above. Take three segments
A, B, and C. Suppose A and C are separate but B shares some
times with A and some with C. B is thus not separate from A or C.
270p. Cit., pp. 350-351.
28Descartes might indeed have held that there can be no temporal
vacua. See AT, V, 343 and, for a contemporary discussion of the notion of
a temporal vacuum, Newton-Smith, op. cit., Chapter II. Still, the supposed
Cartesian discontinuity of time is independent of the existence of tem-
poral vacua.
66
Now, nothing stops A from being causally active upon B and B
upon C. If the transitivity of causality is upheld, then it follows
that, though separate, A is causally active upon C. This objection
denies the principle and produces a counterexample granting the
considerations regarding time and causality from which it is sup-
posedly obtained. It may go further and lend support to the at-
omistic interpretation of Descartes's views on time. For it could be
argued that the way out of this difficulty is to restrict segments of
time to simple temporal atoms so that the example cannot be for-
mulated. But this is neither the only nor the best way out.
The counterexample proceeds by dividing time into two sepa-
rate segments and then superimposing on this division a segment
that spans over the two original separate ones. It then relies on the
transitivity of causality to link the separate segments through the
one common to both. But nothing in what has been said and
ascribed to Descartes denies that for any segment its parts are
themselves causally independent one from the others. Indeed the
contrary is suggested by the possibility of innumerable divisions in
a finite time. On the other hand, in the definitions presented
above a part of time has been allowed to be causally related to
another part which need not be totally simultaneous with it. That
is what generates an illicit transitivity. But so long as the require-
ment of simultaneity is not overlooked the transitivity of causality
can be preserved.
Now, it could be argued that while a cause must be simultaneous
with its effect when producing it, the effect could itself produce
another effect at a later date and the transitivity of causality re-
quires the first to be a cause of the last. This is, in fact, the crux of
the objection being considered. It shows how merely from the re-
quirement of simultaneity and the obvious claim that separate seg-
ments of time are never simultaneous the principle cannot be ob-
tained. For something could be the cause of an effect existing
during a segment separate from that during which it exists simply
by producing the effect at some stage and the effect continuing in
existence after the cause has passed away. H owever, this objection
ignores another item in Descartes's doctrine of causality. In the
Second Replies he stated that "nothing exists concerning which the
question may not be asked: 'what is the cause of its existence?'"
(AT, VII, 164). Though there is a sense in which this appears rea-
sonable enough, Descartes's understanding of it was by no means
67
J. E. K. SECADA
unproblematic. H e took it to mean that it is the existence of a sub-
stance at some time that requires a simultaneous cause. In the Med-
itations he held that "from the fact that I existed a short time ago it
does not follow that I must exist now, unless some cause at this
moment, so to say, creates me anew or conserves me" (AT, VII,
49). Shortly after he explained that "the same power and action
are needed in order to conserve a substance in each moment in
which it exists as would be needed, if it did not exist, to create it
initially." If three substances are causally connected, they must be
simultaneous. For if a substance causes a second substance to exist
at some time and at a later time the second causes a third to exist,
then the first substance is not the causal ancestor of the third un-
less it is the cause of the second at the same time as the second
causes the third. If not, then the causal ancestor will be whatever is
the cause of the second substance at that time.
Descartes requires the existence of a substance to have a cause
satisfying the demand of simultaneity at all times during which it
occurs. For him, that something is produced does not account for
its continuation in being; it must be kept in existence at all times.
The intuition behind the demand of simultaneity is independent
of the further doctrine that substances must be produced at all
times during which they exist. Descartes offers no arguments for
the latter. H e seems to take it to be an evident point that an en-
during substance is, so to speak, made up of constituent slices, the
substance at t for any time t during which it exists, and that each
such slice requires a cause.29 H e understands the requirement of
universal causality as applying not only to the coming into exis-
tence of contingent substances, but also to their contingent exis-
tence at any other moment of their duration. Nevertheless, as I
suggest below, this Cartesian intuition too is related to Medieval
doctrines of causality.30
It should not be thought that atomism makes things easier at this
point. If cause and effect must be simultaneous, whether there is a
discontinuity in time or not is irrelevant to the capacity of past time
29Compare Anthony Kenny, Descartes (New York, N.Y.: Random
H ouse, 1968), pp. 143-144.
30This conservation requirement, together with the simultaneity one,
might point in the direction of the conception of a cause as a sufficient
and (disjunctively) necessary condition for its effect. See note 11 above.
68
to be causally effective on present time; for nothing short of simul-
taneity will do, not even infinitesimally small proximity. And if a
substance requires a cause at all times during which it exists, then
even if there are no discontinuities in time there must still be si-
multaneous causes at every moment in the existence of a sub-
stance. Descartes believed that a causal explanation was required
not only of a substance's coming into existence, but of its existence
at every moment. The last comeback of the atomistic interpreta-
tion is to hold that it is this belief which is grounded on temporal
atomism. The argument would, briefly, run thus: if time were con-
tinuous, then the existence of a substance at some time would be
assured by its having existed up to that point, though admittedly
the relationship involved here would not be one of strict causal
dependence; on the other hand, the defender of the atomistic in-
terpretation continues, it is only because of his discontinuous view
of time that Descartes adopts the demand for a causal account of
the existence of a substance at all moments as opposed to merely so
accounting for its coming into existence. This line of thought has
Descartes allowing that the continued existence of a substance
could be explained in non-causal terms if only time were con-
tinuous. There is, however, textual evidence against this interpre-
tation. In the Second Replies Descartes stated: "The present time
has no causal dependence at all on that which has immediately
preceded it. This is why no less a cause is needed to conserve
something than is needed to produce it the first time" (AT, VII,
165). It is a break in the causal chain, one which occurs whether
there are discontinuities in time or not, which Descartes used to
justify the requirement for a simultaneous cause at all times during
the existence of something.
Descartes could have acquired this view through the influence
of his Scholastic studies. It is interestingly similar to an established
doctrine in the School: all creatures require a conserving cause at
every moment of their existence. The Scholastics distinguished be-
tween a cause per se and a cause per accidens; and it is only the
former which they had in mind with this doctrine. A series of
causes per se is one where all the members are active simulta-
neously; where any intermediate members are dependent on the
causal activity of their causes for their own efficacy; and where the
members are of different kinds, ascending in perfection from the
latter to the earlier. On the other hand, a series of causes per ac-
69
J. E. K. SECADA
cidens can take place in time. In it an intermediate member may be
active causally when its cause is not active. And there need be no
difference in the perfection of its members.
An example of a series of accidental causes of existence is that of
grandparents, parents, and child; while a series that exemplifies
the first two characteristics of an ordering of per se or essential
causes is that of a ball, a rope, and a stick, each being held by the
other. Series of essential causes of existence, however, are more
difficult to exemplify. Scholastic attempts rely heavily on Aristote-
lian physics; or they come to identify it with some sort of formal
efficacy which involves a hierarchical conception of being and a
doctrine that contingent substances exist and cause existence only
insofar as they "participate in," are "given," or "receive" existence
(ST, I, q.8, a.1; q.9, a.2; q.46, a.2, ad 7; q.104, a.1 and a.2; MD,
XVII, 2, 2-5; XXI, 1-3).31
A Cartesian simultaneous series, on the other hand, is composed
of straightforward producers. Descartes was probably sensitive to
the Scholastic intuitions concerning the need for a causal account
of contingent existence not only in its origin, but at any time at
which it is given, so he transposed Scholastic doctrines into his own
metaphysics; he found a new home for old doctrines.32 H e allowed
only one kind of efficient cause. If a chain of causes across time
has a place within Descartes's philosophy, it is as a theoretical con-
struction. The only causal relation in re he allowed for issues in a
simultaneous series. Moreover, the Cartesian simultaneous series
have only two members: God and a created substance. All causality
within or between created substances must in the end refer to the
productive activity of God as displayed through time. This is how,
indeed, the laws of nature governing causal interaction between
parts of the material substance issue directly from God, and how
31See also Aquinas, De Principiis Naturae, V, 362, p. 126; Aquinas, In XII
Libros Metaphysicorum Aristotelis Expositio, V, 2, 773; and 3, passim, ed. Fr.
M.-R. Cathala, OP (Turin, Italy: Marietti, 1964), pp. 213, 214-217; Avi-
cenna, Liber de Philosophia Prima, VI, 1-3, ed. S. Van Riet (Louvain and
Leiden,
Belgium:
E. Peeters and
E.J. Brill, 1980), pp. 291-319; and
John
Duns Scotus, De Primo Principio, I and II, ed. A. B. Wolter (Chicago, Ill.:
Forum Books, 1966), pp. 2-37. Scholastics also allowed for a simulta-
neous series of movers, as in Aquinas's First Way.
32See AT, VII, 370; and also AT, VII, 242 where a hierarchy of reality
or perfection between cause and effect is suggested.
70
occasionalism could claim to be the true inheritor of Descartes's
metaphysics.33 Still, such a Cartesian distinction between theoreti-
cally constructed causes and causes in re can be seen as analogous
to the Scholastic distinction between causes per se and per accident.
Though such an analogy is of little help when concerned with jus-
tifying Descartes's views, it does point to the degree of continuity
between his metaphysics and that of his Scholastic predecessors.
Descartes believed in the following three statements:
1. time is a succession such that it has no two separate seg-
ments which are simultaneous;
2. the existence of a substance can be caused only by some-
thing that exists at the time when it is produced; and
3. the appropriate term in a causal relation is not a substance
but a substance at or during some time, and all such terms
require a causal account.
The texts mentioned in the discussion of Descartes's views on time
can be naturally read as involving these three beliefs and from
them obtaining the principle of the independence of separate seg-
ments of time. Not only is there no reason to ground any of these
beliefs on an atomistic conception of time, but there is evidence in
the texts against doing so. On the other hand, to argue that he
held a view of time as continuous is also unwarranted; for, as I
have shown, the texts do not commit him to this view either. Fur-
thermore, given that there are limitations and difficulties which
would inevitably hamper a discussion on Descartes's part of the
question of the continuity or discontinuity of time, it seems that
the correct view is that he leaves the matter untouched in his
writings.
As I have suggested, the conception of causality contained in
that aspect of the metaphysics of Descartes I have dealt with may
indeed not exhaust the meaning of the relation of cause and ef-
fect. Descartes may have wished to allow the terms to be used in a
33The connection between Descartes and his occasionalist successors is a
complex issue; and, unfortunately, this is not the place to examine it. By
emphasizing that on Descartes's view God is the only true active cause I
have merely pointed out one aspect of this connection.
71
manner that, for example, does not adhere to the demand of si-
multaneity. Such concepts could in fact be articulated within his
philosophy and physics. But they would have to be distinguished
from the ones I have been examining. The matter, however, falls
beyond the scope of this paper. I hope to have succeeded in the
rather more modest enterprise of showing that Descartes's views
on time and causality, understandable within the Scholastic frame-
work, are not linked to temporal atomism or, at least apparently,
to any interesting views on the metaphysics of time. They do serve
us, however, in drawing attention to the links between the Scho-
lastic tradition and modern philosophy.34
University of Virginia
34Earlier versions of a part of this paper were read at the Anglo-French
Descartes Colloquium in London, April, 1979 under the title, "Les
Sources Scholastiques du Temps Cartesien"; at the Coloquio Descartes in
the Universidad Catolica del Peru, July, 1980; and at the Universidad de
San Marcos in Lima in August, 1986. I wish to thank commentators on
those occasions, particularly Fernando Carvallo in London, and also Ber-
nard Williams, Federico Camino, James Cargile, and Edwin Curley, from
whose comments it has greatly benefitted.
72

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