Rene Descartes Existence Of God

Descartes’s mission in the meditations was to doubt everything and that what remained from his doubting could be considered the truth. This lead Descartes to argue for the existence of God. For the purpose of this paper, I will first discuss Descartes’s argument for the existence of God. I will then take issue with Descartes’s argument first with his view on formal reality and varying levels of reality, then with his argument that only God can cause the idea of God. I will then conclude with

Descartes claims ideas regress from one another till they reach absolute perfection, and Descartes suspects that if ideas are too perfect for him, then they must had originated from something more perfect that him. He uses these ideas to ‘prove’ the existence of god, Descartes states that god has various qualities he’s infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful and which created both myself and everything else, these ideas are so perfect he claims that the more he concentrates on them, the less possible it seems that they could have originated from him alone. He thus concludes god exists! Descartes is supposing that the idea of god necessarily comes because of the regression of ideas must go down to perfection and because God is perfection and perfection is

The existence of God has always been an arguable topic. Descartes’ however, believed that he had proof of God’s existence through an intense analysis of the mind. Throughout this paper I will discuss what he has provided as proof and some of the complications that arise throughout his argument.

After giving his first proof for the existence of God Descartes concludes by mentioning that this proof is not always self-evident. When he is absorbed in the world of sensory illusions it is not quite obvious to him that God’s existence can be derived from the idea of God. So to further cement God’s existence Descartes begins his second proof by posing the question of whether he could exist (a thinking thing that possesses the idea of an infinite and perfect god) if God itself did not exist.

The Ontological Argument for the existence of God is an a priori argument that aims to demonstrate that God’s real-world existence follows necessarily from the concept of God. In Meditation V of Discourse on Methods and Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes presents his version of the Ontological Argument for the existence of God. In this essay, I will argue that this argument fails because necessary existence for a concept does not entail its real world existence.

Descartes, Pascal, and the Rationalist Credo Pascal asserts that we can know only by the heart, whereas Descartes would have us believe through his truths that we can know with certainty

Descartes would answer this question by saying no it would not make a sound. He would say this because he believes your senses, specifically sound, are only existent relative to a perceiver. He could explain this by saying things you can sense like temperature, sounds and colors, exist to you when you are perceiving it, but without your perception the objects themselves do not have the qualitys because they are inperceavable. Therefor if a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it would not make a sound because your senses only exist when they are being perceived.

    In 1996, songwriter Joan Osborne performed a song called "One of Us" that was nominated for three Grammy Awards.  What made this song so successful and interesting were the powerful lyrics that basically asked, "What if God were a human being?"  As she was writing the lyrics to "One of Us," she was wondering about God and how the world would be different if God did exist in real life and not just a supernatural force.  You may be asking yourself, "What does this have to do with the seventeenth century?"  Well, in the seventeenth century, there was a man, named Rene Descartes, who was interested in God and wondered about His existence.  After an unforgettable night in November 10, 1619, his interest

This goes back to the idea of God being infinite because he acknowledges that a substance like God will always persist regardless of if anyone was there to think him into existence. In addition, the view that God is a morally good and just substance plays a significant role in Descartes beliefs, without it, many of his ideas wouldn’t be as secure, such as his beliefs of physical objects, he explains this when he states, “Now there clearly is in me a passive faculty of sensing, that is, a faculty for receiving and knowing the ideas of sensible things; but I could not use it unless there also existed, either in me or in something else, a certain active faculty of producing or bringing about these ideas…”(RMP, 51). This is one way that Descartes argues that the nature of God is supremely good. It shows that Descartes doesn’t think that God is a deceiver, this is important because it revelas how he views God’s nature, as an inherently good because he explains that if we are deceived by God then he must not be real because God is not a deceiver.

Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) contains six Meditations. In the first two of these Descartes addresses doubt and certainty. By the end of the second Meditation Descartes establishes the possibility of certainty by concluding that he is a “thinking thing” and that this is beyond doubt. Having established the possibility of certainty, Descartes attempts to prove the existence of God. The argument he presents in the Third Meditation for the existence of God has been nicknamed the ‘Trademark’ argument. This argument deals with types of ideas, of which there are three, a principle called the Causal Adequacy principle, and a sliding scale of reality. The argument concludes that the idea of a God that is a perfect being is an innate idea that is real and was caused by God and therefore God is real. This argument will be explained with the greater detail in the next paragraph. In the Fifth Meditation Descartes again addresses the existence of God with an argument for His existence. This argument is a variation of St. Anselm’s ontological argument. This argument is also framed around his theory of ideas, as well as his principle of ‘clear and distinct perception’ and is explained and discussed in paragraph three. The paragraphs following these will discuss how convincing these two arguments from Descartes are and will deal with various objections. Many of these objections are strong enough that it will be clear why Descartes’ case has failed to convince everyone.

In Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes is seeking to find a system of stable, lasting and certain knowledge, which he can ultimately regard as the Truth. In his methodical quest to carry out his task, Descartes eventually arrives at the proverbial fork in the road: how to bridge the knowledge of self with that of the rest of the world. Descartes’ answer to this is to prove the existence of God. The purpose of this essay will be to state and explain Descartes' Third Meditation: Proof of God's Existence by identifying relevant concepts and terminology and their relationship to each other and examining each premise as well as the conclusion of the proof and finally

One of the most transparent philosophers who wrestled with the existence of God was Descartes. He was a rationalist, believing that all of the concepts in the world could be analyzed through mathematical methods of reasoning. In addition, he believed that all knowledge was previously inside our minds and that certain experiences may trigger a process by which we bring this knowledge to consciousness, but the experiences do not provide us with the knowledge itself. Rationalism opposes the empiricism, the belief that all knowledge comes from sensory experiences, and religious teachings. Despite these beliefs Descartes did believe in God but was not sure how to analyze his existence during his Meditations. Likewise, the famous philosopher Plato

In Descartes’ Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy, he explains the various steps that should be taken in achieving genuine knowledge. Descartes rejects all beliefs in things that are doubtable, and he then tries to unbiasedly reestablish what can be known for sure. One of his most interesting argument is proving the existence of God. He hoped to provide a way for atheists, who demand a logical explanation in God’s existence, to believe in God. His rules of thought meant to ensure that our knowledge rests upon a firm foundation.

My intent in this essay is to illustrate that the arguments regarding the existence of God and the fear of deception in Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, are quite weak and do not justify his conclusions. To support these claims, I will begin by outlining two specific meditations and explain the proposed arguments. Later, I will critically analyze his arguments, revealing unjust conclusions. Doubts surrounding the text include the suggested characteristics of God, the condition of perfection, and the nature of deceit. A wrap up will include a discussion on whether or not Descartes (also referred to as Renatus) succeeded in his project.

The existence of God has been a question since the idea of God was conceived. Descartes tries to prove Gods existence, to disprove his Evil demon theory, and to show that there is without a doubt something external to ones own existence. He is looking for a definite certainty, a foundation for which he can base all of his beliefs and know for a fact that they are true.