Rene Descartes Argument For God

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In Descartes third meditation he attempts to make an argument for god, he does this by using the certain basis of knowledge he attained in the previous meditations as a starting point. The knowledge he attained previously was that he existed as a thinking thing. He declares that arithmetic and geometry were simple truths, two and three does equal five, but he also reminded himself that these “certain” truths could be deceptions. The problem with this truth was that as soon as he stopped thinking about them the doubt would return. He supposes that it could once again be the evil demon that is causing him to believe these “truths”. The only way for him to make progress is if he can keep all truths within himself simultaneously, Descartes solution …show more content…
The simplest of Descartes arguments is the ontological argument (Fifth Meditation) – God is the most perfect being, existence is a more perfect trait then non-existence, god must exist.
Another of his arguments is the trademark argument, there is three possible causes for an idea, Innate – an idea that is a part of your nature, Acquired – an idea that has arisen from external forces and Devised – an idea that you created intellectually. Ideas and their causes also have “Realities”, Ideas can belong to the intrinsic reality – the naturally occurring reality, and an Objective reality – the reality of an idea in virtue of its object, Causes can have a Formal reality in which the cause contains as much reality as the effect or an Eminent reality in which the cause contain more reality then the effect. A cause contains as much reality as its effect, something cannot come from nothing so everything must have a …show more content…
Offer one reasonable objection to Descartes’ argument. One objection to the above reasoning is that Descartes is trying to prove that God is real by using what he perceives clearly and distinctly, but in order for him to be able to rely on his clear and distinct perceptions he requires a benevolent God that would not deceive him. So he is making a circular argument, I clearly perceive God, and I know I am clearly perceiving him because God has made me perceive this idea

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