O conceito de realidade objetiva na Terceira Meditação de Descartes

AbstractMy purpose in this article is to examine the concepts of objective reality and of formal reality as presented in the Cartesian theory of representation. This discussion will be based on a difficulty for the Cartesian ontology that arises within the usual interpretative position according to which the objective reality of an idea consists of an independent entity. As an alternative to that interpretation I will argue that the concept of objective reality of an idea in the Cartesian theory expresses an essential function of what is designated by the concept of formal reality of an idea. As a consequence, it will be concluded, therefore, that the distinction between what is expressed by the two concepts is a distinction of reason as opposed to a real distinction