Rene Descartes Third Meditation Analysis

René Descartes is one of the most famous modern philosophers in the world. One of his most reputable works is called Meditations on the First Philosophy. The book is made up of six mediations in which Descartes seeks to prove what knowledge is undoubtedly true. In his third meditation, Descartes attempts to provide evidence for the existence of God. He raises one main argument, followed by a supplemental argument. He sets up his first premise by stating that he, in fact, does have a concept of God: a God that is eternal and all-knowing. This idea builds upon an understanding of a more “objective reality” (cite) than that of regular, finite substances. This objective reality alludes to the concept that God represents the infinite, perfect form …show more content…
A famed objector is Thomas Hobbes. One of his challenges involves him criticizing Descartes’ definition of an idea and furthermore, Descartes’ philosophy that the idea of God is innately ingrained in humans. According to Hobbes, Descartes states that the only “ideas” that are valid are those that have projected images in the mind. He gives the examples of a man, a chimera, the sky, an angel and God. Descartes outlines how, when he thinks about these different things, he is able to visualize their existence even though there might not be concrete visual representations of them in real life. However, Hobbes finds issue with Descartes’ classification of ethereal concepts, like angels and God, with those that are more tangible, like the sky, a man, and a chimera. Based in reality, Hobbes states, are the tangible things which, once thought of, have the ability to be compared to things that can actually be seen or heard. However, Descartes includes angels and God in this category, which Hobbes finds issue with. According to Hobbes, angels are meant to be invisible and immaterial so any idea conceived of them is actually false. The same goes for God. Furthermore, Hobbes states that any conceivable idea of God is inherently false, because there is no way to grasp the vastness of God’s greatness. The idea that we are unable to master the concept of God at all leads to Hobbes’ main objection to …show more content…
First off, Descartes does acknowledge the potential applicability of Hobbes’ ideas. He states that if Hobbes’ understanding of what he meant by “idea” is applicable only to “material things that are portrayed in the corporeal imagination,”(PDF) or in other terms, things that are tangible and based in easily accessible reality, then his idea would be correct. Contrarily, Descartes explains how Hobbes is misinterpreting the intentional definition of an “idea.” Descartes clarifies that his intended use of the word “idea” was supposed to represent “whatever is immediately perceived by the mind” (PDF); even if something is not fully understood by the mind, such as God. Descartes acknowledges that even though God epitomizes a level of perfection incomprehensible to humanity, the sheer idea that a human is somewhat aware that this level of perfection exists within an ethereal being, is a valid idea. As to why Descartes decided to use the word “idea” as opposed to other vocabulary, which he points out Hobbes became confused by, Descartes states that it is simply because it was the language other philosophers at the time were using to represent conceptions of the “divine mind” (PDF). Descartes states that no other language would suffice in representing the innate nature of the idea of God. He ends in reply to Hobbes’ objection by stating that since Hobbes gives