Third Meditation:The Existence of God

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In the Third Meditation, entitled “Of God: That He Exists”, Rene Descartes presents an argument for the existence of God. Meditation III talks about what is real and how to justify it. Descartes acknowledges of being doubtful of bodily things but is absolutely assured that he exists and he clearly and distinctly perceives this fact. As he confirms: I am a thinking (conscious) thing, that is, a being who doubts, affirms, denies, knows a few objects, and is ignorant of many, - [who loves, hates], wills, refuses, who imagines likewise, and perceives. . . (Descartes p 66) However, he could not be certain unless all clear and distinct perception can be true. From this he concludes, whatever is clearly and distinctly perceived must be true. Therefore, he is not only proving that God exists but to prove his existence as well.

During his youth, Descartes thought he was confident that all things he believes were true but he doubts it now. For example, “two and three added together make five” (Descartes 67), which he finds clear and distinct. However, he is unsure about it because he thinks that God might be deceiving him. He says: Indeed, if I afterward judged that we ought to doubt of these things, it was for no other reason than because it occurred to me that a God might perhaps have given me such a nature as that I should be deceived, even respecting the matters that appeared to me the most evidently true. (Descartes 67) Since he assumes there is a malevolent God who he thinks is deceiving him, Descartes then needs to assure himself and look for evidence that he is not completely deceived. Hence, this causes him in proving that God exists and is not a deceiver.

Rene Descartes begins by classifying his ideas into different k...

... middle of paper ...

...ims we do because sometimes we go with our senses and some in our reasons and experiences. However, it is God, on whom Descartes relies on for his existence, and who the source of his idea of perfection is.

Works Cited

Rene Descartes, “Meditations on First Philosophy (1641)”, in Cutler (2013) Belief, Truth and Justification in Epistemology. Douglas College, NW, BC. 25 Oct. 2015.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Meditations on First Philosophy.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

SparkNotes Editors. “SparkNote on Meditations on First Philosophy.” SparkNotes.com. SparkNotes LLC. n.d.. Web. 26 Oct. 2015.

Uzgalis, Bill. “Descartes' Proof for the Existence of God. “. Oregon State University. Department of Philosophy , Oregon State University, 2003. Web .26 Oct. 2015.

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