Descartes is concerned with the uncertainty of knowledge. When we see, feel, hear, and touch the things around us, we think that they are real. Nevertheless, however real something may seem, Descartes suggests that there is no way we can actually know whether or not it exists (without the help of God). Moreover, there needs to be some kind of proof that our ideas and sense-created images of the world actually depict what exists in reality, if we want to have any certainty of it.
Descartes claims to have a clear and distinct idea of God. This God is “all-powerful, perfect and infinite” (cite). He suggests that God has endowed him with the ability to know the reality of the world by reflecting on his reason. The reality of the world consists …show more content…
For example, we know that 2 and 2 make 4, despite there being no proof of it.] [Another obstacle Descartes must surmount to convince the sceptics to believe in his philosophical system is the fact that having an idea of God does not mean that He actually exists.] [Descartes responds to this challenge with something he calls “the light of nature” (cite). According to this “light of nature,” “there needs to be at least as much reality in the idea as there is in the cause of that idea” (cite). Given that we have an idea of God, the light of nature says that something equally as powerful of more powerful had to have caused it. In effect, due to its infinite nature, we couldn’t have caused it. Only an infinite being could have caused it. This clear and distinct idea of God, along with the facts of the light of nature, shows us that God exists., On that account, God’s perfection assures us that we are not in a dream, that the world is actually the way we perceive it to
Descartes claims to have a clear and distinct idea of God. This God is “all-powerful, perfect and infinite” (cite). He suggests that God has endowed him with the ability to know the reality of the world by reflecting on his reason. The reality of the world consists …show more content…
For example, we know that 2 and 2 make 4, despite there being no proof of it.] [Another obstacle Descartes must surmount to convince the sceptics to believe in his philosophical system is the fact that having an idea of God does not mean that He actually exists.] [Descartes responds to this challenge with something he calls “the light of nature” (cite). According to this “light of nature,” “there needs to be at least as much reality in the idea as there is in the cause of that idea” (cite). Given that we have an idea of God, the light of nature says that something equally as powerful of more powerful had to have caused it. In effect, due to its infinite nature, we couldn’t have caused it. Only an infinite being could have caused it. This clear and distinct idea of God, along with the facts of the light of nature, shows us that God exists., On that account, God’s perfection assures us that we are not in a dream, that the world is actually the way we perceive it to