What Is Descartes's Existence

Descartes’ journey through the realm of his mind and his internal exploration of all the things he previously thought to be certainly true, brings him to the subject of the existence of God in his Third Meditation. Before he touches on the existence of God, he concludes that there are three different types of ideas. There are fictional and adventitious ideas which Descartes’ creates on his own and finally there are innate ideas which are present in the mind at birth. With these types of ideas in mind, he begins to tackle the idea of God and which category he falls under. Many people have their doubts about whether that anything could possibly be infinite. Descartes first touches on how the possibility of an infinite entity is possible in order …show more content…
One person who finds flaw with Descartes’ evidence for the existence of God is Marin Mersenne. Mersenne argues that it is possible for one to come up with the idea of an infinite being purely in their own mind without some infinite being actually having placed the idea in their head. To prove his point, he as well as others, possess some degree of perfection. This degree allows for us to be able to add on other degrees of perfection up to infinity. Since even if there was just one degree of heat, one could imagine it all the way up to infinity. Therefore, one could take a given degree of being from oneself, and add on more degrees and be able able to construct the idea of a perfect being from doing so. He also argues that one could not say that God is an innate idea since most people have grown up around educated people who all have this idea in their head and have been teaching it for generations. Since the natives of Canada had no awareness of this idea, proves that the idea comes from previously held notions. He concludes by saying one might have the idea of an infinite number or number line but it is merely an idea since no such number exists. In Descartes’ response, he takes a very defensive, stubborn approach that in my opinion, discredits what he has to say. Descartes’ argues that as he has …show more content…
I have learned to not only question God’s existence but also try to see if I myself can find evidence to prove or disprove his existence. At the end of the day however, although Descartes’ evidence seems strong from the surface, when you break it down and ignore the fancy language, you realize that there is no such evidence that will ever prove or disprove God’s existence. Descartes’ proof for the possibility of an infinite being is weak. I agree with Mersenne when he says that just because we have the idea of an infinite substance in our minds, doesn’t mean it had to be put there by an infinite substance. I have the idea of an infinite number line in my head but I know that it does not exist since there is no such number that equals infinity since infinity is not a thing that can be reached. This does not mean the idea does not exist but rather that the thing itself does not exist. One can easily agree with Descartes’ on the standpoint that he is not God nor are we since if there is a God that possesses these perfect qualities, I have not and I’m certain no one else has met someone who obtains pure perfection in it’s finest and has not one single flaw. However, since these Meditations were written long before evidence for evolution really arose, one does not know what Descartes’ stance would have been on this proven evidence that we did