7. Christ on Error, Ignorance, and the Road of Knowledge

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

Error and Its Etymology #

• Error as Wandering: Error (planē) etymologically means “to wander.” Error is fundamentally a disordered movement of reason that fails to follow a proper road or method.
• Knowledge Requires a Road (Methodos): Just as error involves wandering without a path, knowledge involves following a proper “road” or “way” (hodos). Methodos literally means “with/along a road.”
• The Mind Wanders Without Direction: If the mind does not know the proper road to follow, it will wander and fall into error (aplanē).

Christ’s Teaching on the Cause of Error #

• The Sadducees’ Two Errors: They err about (1) the existence of resurrection, and (2) what the resurrected state would be like.
• Christ’s Diagnosis: In Mark 12:24-27, Christ tells the Sadducees: “You err (planasthe) through this (dia touto)—not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God.”
• The Greek Word Dia: The word dia (through/by) is crucial—it indicates a causa removens prohibens. Ignorance is a cause that removes what would prevent error. If they knew the Scriptures and the power of God, they would not err.
• The Gravity of This Error: Mark emphasizes this twice with “polu planasthe” (you err greatly), indicating the severity of denying something as central to faith as resurrection.

Remote vs. Proximate Causes of Error #

• Proximate Cause: Ignorance—lack of knowledge of something necessary for proper judgment.
• Remote Causes: Pride and curiosity, which operate on the side of the will/appetite rather than the intellect itself.
  • Pride: Prevents one from learning from those greater than oneself; removes the humility necessary to be a student to a teacher; leads one to apply the mind to things beyond one’s capacity to judge.
  • Curiosity: An unregulated desire for novelty (the “spirit of novelty”); leads one to pursue what is new and fashionable rather than what is true.
• How Remote Causes Work: Both pride and curiosity operate as causa removens prohibens on the remote level. Pride removes humility; curiosity removes proper judgment about what is worthy of investigation.

Ignorance Compared to Error #

• Ignorance ≠ Error: Ignorance is the absence of knowledge; error is a false judgment or mistaken belief. Ignorance is a necessary condition for error but not identical to it.
• Ignorance of Different Types:
  • Ignorance of facts (e.g., not knowing Scripture)
  • Ignorance of distinctions (e.g., not knowing different meanings of the same word)
  • Ignorance of method (e.g., not knowing the proper road to follow in reasoning)

God Cannot Be Deceived #

• God’s Omniscience: God cannot be deceived because God knows everything.
• Human Vulnerability: We can be deceived because we are ignorant of something. Ignorance is thus the foundational condition that makes deception possible for finite beings.

The Four Kinds of Accidental Cause #

Berquist distinguishes four ways something can be called an accidental cause:

1. Coincidental Cause: Two unrelated things happen together (e.g., an earthquake occurring when someone enters a house). The cause and the effect are genuinely unrelated.

2. Causa per Accidens (Accident of the Cause): When a pianist who happens to be a cook cooks dinner. The cooking is not caused by being a pianist; being a cook is accidental to being a pianist.

3. Luck or Chance: Something unintended happens as a result of what was intended (e.g., striking treasure while digging to plant a tree; an arrow intended for a target hitting an unintended object). The unintended effect follows because the agent did not perform the primary action.

4. Causa Removens Prohibens (Removing What Prevents): When one removes a support and the roof falls, one is a cause by removing what prevented the fall. The weight of the roof causes it to fall; one removes the impediment.

Ignorance as Causa Removens Prohibens #

• How Ignorance Functions as a Cause: If a student knew the distinction between two different meanings of a word (e.g., “end” as purpose vs. “end” as termination), that knowledge would prevent them from being deceived by a false syllogism. Ignorance removes this preventive knowledge.
• Examples:
  • The false syllogism: “Happiness is the end of life. The end of life is death. Therefore, happiness is death.” Deception arises from ignorance of the different senses of “end.”
  • The sophistical argument about whole and part: Mixing the universal whole (animal is a universal set larger than man) with the composed whole (the definition of man contains more than animal). Ignorance of this distinction causes the deception.
  • Poisonous mushrooms deceive those ignorant of the difference between poisonous and edible varieties.

Likeness as a Cause of Deception #

• Likeness Creates Vulnerability: Following Plato and Aristotle, likeness (homoiotēs) is a cause of deception. We are deceived by things that resemble the truth because we fail to perceive their differences.
• Likeness Presupposes Ignorance: Seeing the likeness of two things would not deceive us unless we were ignorant of their difference. We must both perceive the similarity and fail to perceive the difference.
• Examples:
  • Fool’s gold deceives because it resembles gold.
  • Zircons deceive because they resemble diamonds.
  • Philosophers who thought the soul was fire were deceived by likeness: fire grows, spreads, and digests things, as living bodies do.
  • Philosophers who thought the soul was air were deceived by likeness: air moves and pervades, as the soul does.

The Road of Knowledge and the Order of Investigation #

• Method and Order: The “road” of knowledge is nothing other than a proper ordering of before and after in our understanding. Without knowing this proper order, reason wanders.
• Before and After in Learning: Aristotle raises the question: In learning about the soul, should we consider the soul itself first, or its powers/abilities, or the acts of those powers, or the objects of those acts?
• Example Questions:
  • Should we understand “understanding” before we understand “the power to understand”?
  • Should we know “seeing” before we know “the eye”?
  • Should we know “color” before we understand “seeing color”?
  • Should we know “sound” before we understand “hearing sound”?
• The Proper Order: Generally, in our knowledge, we move from what is more known to us (the activities and objects we experience) toward what is less known to us (the underlying powers and essences).

Key Arguments #

Christ’s Argument Against the Sadducees (Mark 12:24-27) #

Premise 1: The Sadducees are in error about resurrection (deny it exists) and about the state after resurrection.

Premise 2: Christ identifies the cause: “You err through this—not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God.”

Premise 3: The Greek word dia (through/by) indicates that ignorance is a causa removens prohibens. Knowledge of Scripture and God’s power would remove the ignorance that permits error.

Conclusion: Ignorance is not merely a coincidental feature of error; it is the constitutive condition that must be removed for error to be corrected.

The Syllogism on Happiness and Death #

Form:

• Happiness is the end of life.
• The end of life is death.
• Therefore, happiness is death.

Why It Deceives: The word “end” (télos) has two different senses: (1) purpose/goal and (2) termination. The syllogism has the form of a valid argument but the middle term is equivocal.

The Role of Ignorance: One is deceived through ignorance of the distinction between these two meanings. If one knew this distinction, the deception would be prevented.

The Connection Between Error and Wandering #

Inference from Etymology: The word error (planē, meaning to wander) suggests that error is a disordered movement of reason. The mind wanders when it does not know the proper road to follow. The word itself (from non-technical human experience) reveals a connection between ignorance of method and wandering into error.

Important Definitions #

Planē (Error/Wandering) #

From Greek: “to wander.” Error is not merely a discrete false belief but a disordered movement of reason—a wandering that occurs when the mind does not know the proper road or method to follow.

Dia Touto (Through This) #

Greek preposition dia meaning “through” or “by.” Christ uses this construction to identify ignorance as the efficient cause that removes what would prevent error. The phrase indicates not coincidence but causal connection.

Methodos (Method/Road) #

From Greek: meta (with/along) + hodos (road/way). The proper path or method that reason must follow in investigation. Different subjects may require different methods. Without knowing the methodos, the mind wanders into error.

Agnoia (Ignorance) #

The absence of knowledge necessary for proper judgment. Can be ignorance of facts, distinctions, or method. Functions as causa removens prohibens—removing what would prevent error.

Causa Removens Prohibens #

Latin philosophical term: “a cause removing what prevents.” A cause that operates not by producing something directly, but by removing an obstacle that prevents an effect. Ignorance is a causa removens prohibens because it removes the knowledge that would prevent error.

Homoiotēs (Likeness/Resemblance) #

Greek term for similarity. Following Plato and Aristotle, likeness is a cause of deception when we perceive the similarity between two things but fail to perceive their difference. Requires both perception of likeness and ignorance of difference.

Examples & Illustrations #

The Syllogism on Happiness #

A student, seeing the argument “Happiness is the end of life. The end of life is death. Therefore, happiness is death,” concludes that happiness must be death. This is a pessimistic view. The student is deceived through ignorance of the two different senses of “end.” If the student knew that “end” can mean either “purpose” or “termination,” the deception would be prevented.

The Word “Park” (Part and Whole) #

The Sophistical Argument:

• “Animal is a part of what man is.” (True: animal is a part of man’s definition.)
• “Animal includes dog, cat, horse.” (True: animal is a universal that includes these species.)
• “Therefore, the part includes more than the whole.” (False: mixing two different senses.)

The Distinction: The universal whole (where animal includes more than man) vs. the composed whole (where man’s definition includes more than animal). Ignorance of this distinction causes the deception.

Fool’s Gold #

Fool’s gold deceives the fool because it resembles gold. The fool perceives the likeness but fails to perceive the difference. Only someone who cannot tell the difference is deceived. This illustrates how likeness presupposes ignorance of difference.

The Bat (Winged Mammal) #

The statement “the bat is a flying rodent” has two meanings: (1) a type of stick used in sports, or (2) an actual animal. Most people are not deceived because they easily see the two meanings. This shows that difficulty of deception varies with how obvious the distinction is.

The Poisoned Wine Example #

A man drinks sweet wine to satisfy his sweet tooth but gets drunk. He did not intend to get drunk, but getting drunk follows necessarily from drinking wine. This is a causa per accidens on the side of the agent’s intention: getting drunk is accidental to the man’s intention (satisfying sweetness) but follows naturally from wine consumption. Analogously, pride seeks dignity or excellence, and while not intending error, one easily falls into error when applying the mind to things beyond one’s capacity.

Samson Pushing the Pillars #

Samson pushes the pillars of the temple, and the structure collapses. Samson is a causa removens prohibens: by removing the support, he removes what prevented the collapse. The collapse itself is caused by the weight of the structure; Samson causes it by removing the impediment.

Notable Quotes #

“You err (planasthe) through this (dia touto)—not knowing the Scriptures or the power of God.” (Christ to the Sadducees, Mark 12:24-27)

“We do not think we understand each thing before we take the dia ti—the through what, or by what it is, what it is.” (Aristotle, Physics II, cited by Berquist)

“If you’re ignorant of the different senses of the word end, right? In these two sentences, right? Through your ignorance of the distinction of the meanings of the word in, you are what? You can be deceived by this, right?” (Berquist, illustrating ignorance as causa removens prohibens)

“The word air comes from the wandering. But now, what kind of ignorance is the cause of the mind wandering? Why does the mind wander? But doesn’t the mind wander because it doesn’t know the road to follow?” (Berquist, on error and method)

“Likeness is the cause of deception.” (Plato and Aristotle, cited by Berquist)

Questions Addressed #

Why Can God Not Be Deceived? #

Q: What prevents God from being deceived?

A: God cannot be deceived because God knows everything. Therefore, there is no ignorance in God that could permit deception. Conversely, we can be deceived precisely because we are ignorant of something.

What Is the Cause of Error? #

Q: What fundamentally causes error?

A: Ignorance is the proximate cause of error. Christ teaches that ignorance of Scripture and the power of God causes the Sadducees’ error about resurrection. Ignorance operates as a causa removens prohibens—it removes the knowledge that would prevent error.

How Do Remote Causes (Pride and Curiosity) Lead to Error? #

Q: How do pride and curiosity, which are not directly intellectual deficiencies, cause error?

A: Pride prevents one from learning from those greater than oneself (removes humility and submission to authority) and leads one to apply the mind to things beyond one’s capacity to judge. Curiosity, unregulated, leads one to pursue novelty rather than truth. Both remove what would prevent error: proper humility and proper judgment about what deserves investigation. They are remote (operating on the will) rather than proximate (operating on the intellect).

How Does Likeness Cause Deception? #

Q: Why does resemblance between two things cause deception?

A: We are deceived by likeness only when we perceive the similarity but fail to perceive the difference. If one perceived both the likeness and the difference, deception would not occur. Thus, deception by likeness presupposes ignorance of the difference.

What Is the Proper Order in Knowledge of the Soul? #

Q: Should we begin by studying the soul itself, or its powers, or the acts of those powers, or the objects of those acts?

A: The lecture raises but does not fully resolve this question. Aristotle poses it as a fundamental methodological problem: we may need to know what understanding, sensing, and growing are (the acts) before we can properly understand the powers that produce them. The answer involves knowing the proper “road” of knowledge—the correct order of before and after in understanding.