ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Philosophy conceives of itself as continually involved in a search for truth in which truth is envisaged as an end in itself. This self-conception is, of course, usually mirrored in the expectations held for philosophy. The search, evident throughout the texts comprising philosophy’s history, is for our concerns more than adequately exemplified in the title of Descartes’ philosophical dialogue, La Recherche de la vérité. However despite philosophy’s proclaimed goal being the uninterrupted enactment of a will to truth, it is our contention that this is in fact the articulation of a different and indeed more subtle strategy, one which could be described as a will to overcome error, or perhaps to be more precise, as the will to overcome the possibility of deception. Part of the aim of this chapter is to trace both the unfolding as well as some of the consequences of this strategy.1
