11. Error, Wisdom, and the Four Senses of Before

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Lecture Notes

Main Topics #

The Nature of Error and Its Causes #

• Planai (πλανάω): Greek word meaning “to wander,” root of “planet” (things that wander in the sky)
• Two primary English words express error: “error” and “mistake”
  • Error (from Greek eras): Suggests a disordered movement of reason; wandering from the correct path
  • Mistake (from Latin mis-takere): Suggests missing or grasping the wrong thing; caused by false imagination and likeness
• Likeness is the cause of deception: “You wouldn’t be deceived if the false is not like the true”
• The imagination delights in likeness; reason perfects itself by seeing differences

Imagination vs. Reason #

• Imagination is named from likeness (imago = image/likeness)
• Imagination perceives likeness but does not distinguish differences
• Reason is perfected by seeing differences and ordered relations
• The tool of difference must be prioritized over the tool of likeness to avoid mistakes

Wisdom and the Four Senses of “Before” #

Wisdom is the ability to see what is “before and after” - but this phrase has multiple meanings:

The Four Senses of Before:

1. Temporal Priority: One thing comes before another in time

   • Example: Lavoisier saw that hydrogen comes before water temporally in generation
   • Thales saw only water as the beginning; Lavoisier saw hydrogen as prior

2. Essential/Causal Priority: One thing can exist without the other, but not vice versa

   • Example: Breathing is before philosophizing (you can breathe without philosophizing, but cannot philosophize without breathing)
   • This is priority in being or necessity, not in value or goodness

3. Logical/Definitional Priority: One thing is presupposed in understanding another

   • Example: Understanding the definition of water presupposes understanding hydrogen and oxygen
   • The road or method that must be followed first in reasoning

4. Final Causality/Value Priority: One thing is the end or goal for which another exists

   • Example: Philosophizing is better than breathing (breathing is for the sake of living and other higher activities)
   • The better thing, the goal or purpose

Three Types of Wisdom Identified:

• One man sees what is before or after that another does not see (priority in objects known)
• One man sees both before and after but recognizes their order, while another does not (priority in understanding relations)
• One man sees the before and after earlier in time than another (temporal wisdom)

The Distinction Between “Before and After” in Objects vs. in Understanding #

• Not seeing the object itself: Thales does not see hydrogen; Lavoisier does
• Seeing the object but not its order: One may see both water and hydrogen but not realize which is prior
• Example: Seeing a man and a woman without knowing which is older temporally
• Example: Recognizing Mozart and Haydn without knowing Mozart is better

The Exception to “The Worst is Best” #

General Rule: The opposite of the worst is better

• Which is worse: killing a dog or killing a man? → Man is better than dog
• Which is worse: injustice or stinginess? → Justice is greater than liberality

Exception: When A is before B in the second sense (essential/causal priority), the loss of A is worse than the loss of B, even though B may be better than A

• Example: Which is better—to breathe or to philosophize?
  • Students typically answer: breathing
  • Why? Because losing breathing means losing all else
  • But this confuses the second and fourth senses
  • Breathing is before philosophizing in being (second sense) but philosophizing is better as an end (fourth sense)

Theological Example:

• Faith is before hope and charity in causal priority (lose faith, lose hope and charity)
• But charity is better than faith as a virtue
• Loss of faith is worse, but charity is better
• Therefore, infidelity is in a sense the worst sin despite not being directly opposed to the best virtue

The Problem of Equivocation #

Students often argue incorrectly by:

• Confusing the second sense of before (causal necessity) with the fourth sense (value/goodness)
• Concluding that because something’s loss is worst, it must be best
• This is the root of many logical errors

Examples of Before and After #

In Mathematics and Science:

• Hydrogen before water in scientific explanation
• Quarks before protons (hypothetically)

In Practical Reasoning:

• Not seeing consequences of actions
• Not seeing consequences of consequences (second-order effects)
• More prudent person sees further ahead in causal chains

In Aesthetics:

• John Dryden’s realization that Shakespeare was greater than Beaumont and Fletcher
• Initially seeing both playwrights without recognizing Shakespeare’s superiority
• Later understanding that Fletcher was “a limb of Shakespeare” (subordinate part)

In Language and Meaning:

• The word “see” has multiple meanings:
  1. Act of the eye (perception)
  2. Imagination (mental imaging)
  3. Understanding (intellection)
• One may know all three meanings without ordering them properly
• Wisdom consists in seeing that the act of the eye comes first, imagination second, understanding third

Priority and Necessity vs. Goodness #

• Priority in being (second sense) determines what is necessary
• Priority as end (fourth sense) determines what is good or better
• Aristotle on wisdom: “Every other knowledge is more necessary than wisdom; none is better”
• This distinction is crucial for avoiding equivocation and false reasoning

The “Before and After” Principle in Governance #

• Monarchy (best) vs. Tyranny (worst)
• Aristocracy vs. Oligarchy
• Republic vs. Democracy (least good vs. least bad)
• This ordering reflects natural hierarchies

Key Arguments #

Argument 1: Error as Disordered Movement vs. False Imagination #

1. Error (planai) involves wandering from the correct path due to lack of knowledge of proper order
2. Mistake involves grasping the wrong object due to false imagination caused by likeness
3. Both are failures of reason but differ in source: one from ignorance of order, the other from perception of similarity
4. Therefore, avoiding error requires both knowledge of proper order and ability to distinguish true from false through differences

Argument 2: Wisdom as Knowledge of Priority #

1. One man sees what is before or after another does not → one is wiser
2. One man sees both but knows their order; another does not → one is wiser
3. To be wise means to “look before and after” in various senses
4. Therefore, wisdom consists in multiple distinct abilities to recognize priority in different modes

Argument 3: The Exception to “Worst = Opposite of Best” #

1. Generally: If A is worse than B, then B is better than A
2. Exception: When A is before B in the second sense (causal priority)
3. In that case: Loss of A is worse, but B is still better as an end
4. Therefore: One cannot always infer from “worse loss” to “better thing”
5. Application: Faith is before hope and charity in causality, yet charity is the greater virtue

Argument 4: The Role of Imagination in Deception #

1. Imagination is named from likeness (imago)
2. We are deceived when false appears like true
3. Imagination perceives likeness without perceiving difference
4. Reason perfects itself through seeing differences
5. Therefore: Prioritizing the tool of difference over likeness is essential to avoid mistakes

Important Definitions #

• Planai (πλανάω): To wander; root of error in the sense of straying from the correct path
• Eras (ἔρας, variant form): Similar to planai; related to wandering and error; appears in Shakespeare’s “Comedy of Errors”
• Imago: Likeness; from which “imagination” is named; the faculty that perceives similarity
• Mistake: To miss or take wrongly; error caused by false imagination due to perceived likeness
• Before (in four senses):
  1. Temporal priority (one thing comes before another in time)
  2. Essential/causal priority (one thing can exist without the other, but not vice versa)
  3. Logical/definitional priority (one thing is presupposed in understanding another)
  4. Final causality (one thing is the end for which another exists; the better thing)

Examples & Illustrations #

Scientific Progress and Seeing “Before” #

• Thales: Saw water as the fundamental principle; saw nothing before water
• Lavoisier: Discovered hydrogen; saw that hydrogen comes before water in composition
• Lavoisier is wiser: He sees what is before what Thales sees

Practical Wisdom and Consequences #

• Ordinary person: Sees an action but not its consequence
• More prudent person: Sees the action and its consequences
• Wisest person: Sees the action, consequences, and consequences of consequences (second-order effects)

Literary Example: Dryden and the Playwrights #

• Young Dryden: Saw both Shakespeare and Beaumont and Fletcher performed; Fletcher was more popular
• Young Dryden’s judgment: Viewed both as roughly equal
• Mature Dryden’s realization: Shakespeare is vastly superior; Fletcher is merely “a limb of Shakespeare”
• The wisdom gained: Not discovering new playwrights, but recognizing the proper order of excellence among those already known

Language and Multiple Meanings #

• To see:
  1. The act of the eye (physical perception)
  2. To imagine (mental representation)
  3. To understand (intellectual comprehension)
• One may recognize all three meanings without ordering them
• Wisdom: knowing they are ordered as 1→2→3

The Breathing and Philosophizing Example #

• Question: Which is better, breathing or philosophizing?
• Student answer: Breathing
• Student reasoning: You can’t philosophize without breathing
• Error: Confusing “before in being” (second sense) with “better as an end” (fourth sense)
• Correction: Breathing is before philosophizing in the second sense (causally prior) but philosophizing is better in the fourth sense (the end or purpose)
• Implication: Priority in necessity ≠ priority in value

The Brick Wall and the Bricks #

• One pays more for a brick wall than a pile of bricks
• Bricks are before the wall in being (you can’t have a wall without bricks)
• But the wall is better than bricks (it is the end for which bricks are arranged)
• Therefore: What is necessary prior is not necessarily better in value

Vision vs. Hearing #

• Question: If you had to choose, would you rather be blind or deaf?
• Answer: Deaf (blindness is worse)
• Inference: Sight is better than hearing
• Note: Unlike breathing and philosophizing, there is no “before and after” in the second sense between sight and hearing
• Therefore: The general rule (worst’s opposite is best) applies here

Married Couple Example #

• One can see a man and a woman without knowing which is older
• One perceives the objects (before and after in the first sense) but not their temporal order
• Seeing both ≠ understanding their relationship

Wine and Beer #

• One can distinguish wine from beer but not know that wine is better
• Distinguishing objects ≠ knowing their proper ordering in value

Notable Quotes #

“Likeness is the cause of deception: you wouldn’t be deceived if the false is not like the true.”

“Imagination delights in likeness of things and reason in their differences.”

“To avoid error requires knowledge of the road to follow, of the order in which you should proceed.”

“One man is wiser than another because he sees what is before or after what the other man sees.”

“When a man sees that the first meaning of ’to see’ is the act of the eye, the second is to imagine, and the third is to understand, then he sees it before and after among meanings that someone else might not see.”

“Priority [is] what the Latin word for what? Before… So what does it mean to establish your priorities? …To order all the things according to their importance.”

“When A is before B in the second sense of before, then the loss of A is worse than the loss of B, even though B is better than A.”

“The exception to the rule that the opposite of the worst is best is when you have that order [in the second sense], where this is before that giving. Then the loss of this [is] worse. You find this strange thing, Thomas, [that] infidelity is in a sense the worst of sins.”

Questions Addressed #

What is the difference between error and mistake? #

• Error arises from ignorance of the proper order or road to follow; it is a disordered wandering of reason
• Mistake arises from false imagination; we grasp the wrong object because the false appears like the true
• Both are failures of reason but have different causes and require different remedies

Why is likeness the cause of deception? #

• If the false did not resemble the true, we would not confuse them
• The imagination perceives likeness without perceiving differences
• Therefore, to avoid mistakes, we must cultivate the ability to see differences

What does it mean to be wise? #

• Wisdom is the ability to “look before and after”
• This phrase has four distinct meanings corresponding to four senses of “before”
• A wise person sees what is temporally, essentially, logically, or teleologically prior

Can one man be wiser than another if they have seen the same things? #

• Yes, in multiple ways:
  1. One may see what is temporally prior that another does not
  2. One may see what is essentially prior that another does not
  3. One may see both objects but understand their proper order (logical or teleological) while another does not
  4. Example: Dryden saw both Shakespeare and Fletcher but later recognized their proper ordering in excellence

What is the exception to the rule “the opposite of the worst is best”? #

• When A is before B in the second sense (essential/causal priority), the loss of A is worse than the loss of B
• Yet B may still be better than A in the fourth sense (as an end or good)
• Example: Faith is before hope and charity in causality (losing faith means losing both), yet charity is a greater virtue than faith
• This shows that “worse loss” does not entail “less good in value”

How does one avoid equivocation between different senses of “before”? #

• One must carefully distinguish the four senses
• One must not assume that priority in being (second sense) entails priority in value (fourth sense)
• One must ask: Are we discussing temporal order, causal necessity, logical order, or final causality?
• Example: Breathing is before philosophizing in being but after it in value (breathing is for the sake of philosophizing)

Why does Shakespeare’s definition of reason as “large discourse looking before and after” capture something essential? #

• Because wisdom in all its forms involves seeing priority and order
• Reason naturally looks for what comes before (causes, principles, prerequisites) and what comes after (effects, consequences, purposes)
• Different senses of “before and after” correspond to different aspects of rational understanding

Is despair worse than hatred of God? #

• In some sense, yes: despair cuts off the possibility of redemption and forgiveness
• Peter denied Christ but did not despair; Judas despaired and thus lost hope
• Yet the question of which is worse depends on which sense of “before” we are discussing
• Despair seems to involve all the effects of infidelity but directed against charity specifically

Context and Significance #

This lecture represents a deep dive into the philosophical foundations of understanding error and wisdom. By carefully analyzing the four senses of “before,” Berquist shows how much confusion in reasoning stems from equivocation between different types of priority. This is directly relevant to logic, metaphysics, natural philosophy, and theology, as it reveals how the same phrase can mean radically different things depending on the context.