What steps does Descartes take to prove his existence and that God exists? (one of the proofs). Discuss whether his reasoning is sound and convincing.
In this essay, I will discuss how after the first and second meditation, Descartes knows that he exists and that he is a thinking thing. I will then proceed to analyze the third meditation in which Descartes focuses on a causal argument for existence of God who is perfect. By the end of the third meditation, Descartes appears to prove that he is not God and that God exists.
Descartes knows that he exists by the very fact of “cogito”. He cannot doubt that he exists because something cannot doubt or have awareness and not exist.
In order to prove the existence of God, Descartes comes to several conclusions which are essential to his argument. He firstly restates that everything he clearly and distinctly perceives is true and that God is not a deceiver as he is perfect and has no flaws, and, a deceiver, must have flaws. He says that we have an innate idea of God as an infinite being and that God must have the most infinite objective reality. Descartes also argues that since his existence “keeps going”, something must be maintaining …show more content…
He says that the idea of God is not invented nor adventitious but rather innate. It does not come from the senses but rather is a “trademark” that God places in us. We have an idea of God as an infinite and perfect being and something finite could not possibly create the idea of something infinite. Thus, Descartes, a finite being, cannot invent the idea of God. “For although the idea of a substance is in me by virtue of the fact that I am a substance… unless this idea proceeded from some substance which was really infinite”. p76. Descartes argues that a finite thing cannot produce or think of something infinite because “there must be at least as much reality in the efficient and total cause as there is in the effect of the same
In this essay, I will discuss how after the first and second meditation, Descartes knows that he exists and that he is a thinking thing. I will then proceed to analyze the third meditation in which Descartes focuses on a causal argument for existence of God who is perfect. By the end of the third meditation, Descartes appears to prove that he is not God and that God exists.
Descartes knows that he exists by the very fact of “cogito”. He cannot doubt that he exists because something cannot doubt or have awareness and not exist.
In order to prove the existence of God, Descartes comes to several conclusions which are essential to his argument. He firstly restates that everything he clearly and distinctly perceives is true and that God is not a deceiver as he is perfect and has no flaws, and, a deceiver, must have flaws. He says that we have an innate idea of God as an infinite being and that God must have the most infinite objective reality. Descartes also argues that since his existence “keeps going”, something must be maintaining …show more content…
He says that the idea of God is not invented nor adventitious but rather innate. It does not come from the senses but rather is a “trademark” that God places in us. We have an idea of God as an infinite and perfect being and something finite could not possibly create the idea of something infinite. Thus, Descartes, a finite being, cannot invent the idea of God. “For although the idea of a substance is in me by virtue of the fact that I am a substance… unless this idea proceeded from some substance which was really infinite”. p76. Descartes argues that a finite thing cannot produce or think of something infinite because “there must be at least as much reality in the efficient and total cause as there is in the effect of the same