Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy

526 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Identity is

Humans can grasp certain ideas to a certain extent but how do we grasp ideas beyond our finite selves. In Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes claims that we have the idea of an infinite substance and are able to grasp infinite ideas but we should not be able to do this because we are finite beings. Descartes goes on to say that the idea of an infinite substance could not have come anywhere else but from some infinite being namely God so he has to exist because we are finite. Descartes argues that the more he thinks about the characteristics of God which are that he is all-knowing, all-powerful, and eternal the more he thinks that those characteristics could not have originated from him. Descartes talks about god’s characteristics: “the more diligently I attend to …show more content…

Even though we cannot imagine this perfect being, he has to exist because the idea of the perfect being has to count as something and it has to represent something real. I am a human and I know that I cannot imagine God based on the fact that it would be impossible for me to imagine him because he is infinitely perfect and I am finite. Descartes says: “I should judge that all things which I clearly perceive and in which I know there is some perfection, and possibly likewise an infinitude of properties of which I am ignorant, are in God formally and eminently” (Descartes 126). In other words, God knows that we might find something perfect in a certain thing that we clearly can perceive and we know has to to be in, infinitely perfect God, will never cover his infinitude. When we find something perfect that has to be in God, it will almost always strengthen our definition of him because he has that certain perfect thing in him plus an infinite amount more that will make his definition the most clear, true, and distinct in our

Show More
Related

  • Prove the Existence of God Using Who Has the Idea of God

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    (1)Direct reason: If I am the reason I exist, it has an incredible conclusion “if I got my being from myself, I would not doubt, nor would I desire, nor would I lack anything at all. For I would have given myself all the perfections of which I have some idea; in so doing, I myself would be God!” (Descartes 32, 48) This means, I have great perfection, I do not need depend on anything else, if so, I become God, it is clearly impossible. Because it is harder for me to think about getting things that I lack than the things I have. On the other hand, it is more difficult for me to think I come from nothing than to acquire things I do not know. If I give this great thing to myself, I will not lack things that are easily to get, and I will not lack things I understand from the idea of God. Since none of them are difficult for me to acquire. If any of them are difficult for me to acquire, I will experience my power is limited. As a result, I am not God.

    Read More

  • Descartes Proof Of The External World Analysis

    1547 Words  | 4 Pages

    Descartes’ made himself believe that nothing exists and starts to doubt himself along with the existence of the external world. First, he states that he would never create something that would oppose to another person’s perception. Then goes on to say, that to imagine something it is needed to picture an idea or have a mental picture. Lastly, he brings out the premise that the ideas perceived by what they call senses must come from external soul.

    Read More

  • An Examination of the Second Meditation of Descartes

    1585 Words  | 4 Pages

    Baird and Kaufmann, the editors of our text, explain in their outline of Descartes' epistemology that the method by which the thinker carried out his philosophical work involved first discovering and being sure of a certainty, and then, from that certainty, reasoning what else it meant one could be sure of. He would admit nothing without being absolutely satisfied on his own (i.e., without being told so by others) that it was incontrovertible truth. This system was unique, according to the editors, in part because Descartes was not afraid to face doubt. Despite the fact that it was precisely doubt of which he was endeavoring to rid himself, he nonetheless allowed it the full reign it deserved and demanded over his intellectual labors. "Although uncertainty and doubt were the enemies," say Baird and Kaufmann (p.16), "Descartes hit upon the idea of using doubt as a tool or as a weapon. . . . He would use doubt as an acid to pour over every 'truth' to see if there was anything that could not be dissolved . . . ." This test, they explain, resulted for Descartes in the conclusion that, if he doubted everything in the world there was to doubt, it was still then certain that he was doubting; further, that in order to doubt, he had to exist. His own existence, therefore, was the first truth he could admit to with certainty, and it became the basis for the remainder of his epistemology.

    Read More

  • Humes' and Descartes' Position on the Existence of the External World

    1321 Words  | 3 Pages

    My thoughts on God are clear and distinct that he is existent. Descartes’ now has ‘rebuilt’ the world, solely because of his power and reasoning. Descartes’ is only able to use his power and reasoning because he knows God is a guarantor of his ideas and thoughts. As Descartes thinks about his own imperfections, it leads him to think about perfection, and how it has to come from something superior to him.... ...

    Read More

  • The Cartesian Circle is Wrong

    1602 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rene Descartes meditations on the existence of God are very profound, thought-provoking, and engaging. From the meditations focused specifically on the existence of God, Descartes uses the argument that based on his clear and distinct perception that cannot be treated with doubt, God does exist. In the beginning of the third meditation, Descartes proclaims that he is certain he is a thinking thing based on his clear and distinct perception, and he couldn’t be certain unless all clear and distinct perceptions are true. Before diving into the existence of God, Descartes introduces smaller arguments to prove the existence of God. For example, Descartes introduces in his argument that there are ideas in which he possess that exists outside of him. Utilizing the objective versus formal reality, Descartes states “If the objective reality of any of my ideas turns out to be so great that I am sure the same reality does not reside in me, either formally or eminently, and hence that I myself cannot be its cause, it will necessarily follow that I am not alone in the world, but that some other thing which is the cause of this idea exists” (29). In other words, the ideas of objective reality that resides in Descartes can potentially only come from a supreme being, which is God; God possess more objective reality than he does formal reality. We as humans, as Descartes states, are finite substance, and God is the only infinite substance. The only way for us as a finite substance to think of an infinite substance is possible if, and only if, there is an infinite substance that grants us the idea of substance in first place. After these smaller arguments, Descartes states that while we can doubt the existence of many things, due to the fact that ...

    Read More

  • Descartes Meditation 1 Analysis

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descartes stands with his position that God is perfection by saying “it is impossible that God should deceive me. For in every case of trickery or deception some imperfection is found… [and] the will to deceive is undoubtedly evidence of malice or weakness, and so cannot apply to God” (90). Through these words, Descartes explains that the natural light proves God’s perfect being because a deceiver is powerless and malevolent. God is not powerless and malevolent because he is not a deceiver. He has no imperfections. Therefore, the natural light proves his pure

    Read More

  • Philosophy Of Descartes

    1455 Words  | 3 Pages

    After settling that God exists in his first few passages, Descartes adds that God is the perfect being. Due to the fact that he understands what a perfect being is, than God must be a sovereign being. Similar to his triangle theory that it is not a necessity to imagine a triangle. It is not a necessity to imagine a perfect being rather a thought that has run through our mind. The triangle as imagined and conceived has three sides and a hundred and eighty degree angles as always. It is imperative that these characteristics are always attributed to the triangle, likewise the attributes of a perfect being are placed on God.

    Read More

  • Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    ... God alone remains; and, given the truth of the principle that whatever exists has a cause, it follows, Descartes declares, that God exists we must of necessity conclude from the fact alone that I exist, or that the idea of a supremely perfect – that is of God – is in me, that the proof of God’s existence is grounded in the highest evidence” Descartes concludes that God must be the cause of him, and that God innately implanted the idea of infinite perfection in him.

    Read More

  • Meditation on First Philosophy by Rene Descartes

    1212 Words  | 3 Pages

    “Cogito ergo sum - I think therefore I am.” A mathematician, scientific thinker, and metaphysician Rene Descartes used this term in his “Meditation on First Philosophy.” This term has become famous especially in western philosophy. However, this term was not Descartes only legacy. His legacies include the development of the Cartesian coordinates, philosophical books, and theories. Even though the distinction between mind and body can be traced to the Greeks, Descartes account of the mind and body relationship has been considered the first and the most influential. Descartes was born in 1596 in France, from 1628 to 1649 Descartes remained in Holland, during this time he composed multiple works that set the scene for all later philosophical study of mind and body. (René Descartes and the legacy of mind/body dualism) “Meditation on First Philosophy,” is one of Descartes famous treatises. First published in the 17th century, it consists of six meditations. In the first meditation Descartes eliminates all belief in things that are not certain, basically he removes everything from the table. Then one by one he examines each belief and determines whether any of these beliefs can be known for sure. Meditations three and five focus on the existence of God. This ontological argument is both fascinating and poorly understood in the philosophical community. Descartes tries to prove God’s existence by using simple but influential foundations. (Nolan). Descartes innate ideas proof and ontological proof of the existence of God is going to be assessed through the summarization of meditation thee and meditation five, while his work is also going to be compared to Anselm’s ontological argument on the existence of God.

    Read More

  • Serious Errors within Rene Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy

    1094 Words  | 3 Pages

    One of Rene Descartes’ major culminations in Meditations on First Philosophy is “I must finally conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind” (Descartes:17). This statement can be explicated by examining Descartes’ Cartesian method of doubt and his subsequent discovery of basic truths. Even though I do believe that Descartes concludes with a statement that is accurate: cogito ergo sum, there are areas of his proof that are susceptible to defamation. These objections discover serious error with Descartes’ method used in determining the aforementioned conclusion.

    Read More

  • Descartes Proof Of God

    1660 Words  | 4 Pages

    Descartes thinks that we have a very clear and distinct idea of God. He thinks God must exist and Descartes himself must exist. It is a very different way of thinking shown from the six meditations. Descartes uses ideas, experiments, and “proofs” to try and prove God’s existence.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of George Berkeley And Descartes

    850 Words  | 2 Pages

    According to Descartes, “because our senses sometimes deceive us, I wanted to suppose that nothing was exactly as they led us to imagine (Descartes 18).” In order to extinguish his uncertainty and find incontrovertible truth, he chooses to “raze everything to the ground and begin again from the original foundations (Descartes 59).” This foundation, which Descartes is certain to be the absolute truth, is “I think, therefore I am (Descartes 18).” Descartes argues that truth and proof of reality lies in the human mind, rather than the senses. In other words, he claims that the existence of material objects are not based on the senses because of human imperfection. In fact, he argues that humans, similarly to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, are incapable of sensing the true essence or existence of material objects. However, what makes an object real is human thought and the idea of that object, thus paving the way for Descartes’ proof of God’s existence. Because the senses are easily deceived and because Descartes understands that the senses can be deceived, Descartes is aware of his own imperfection. He

    Read More

  • Third Meditation, by Rene Descartes

    869 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the Third Meditation, Descartes forms a proof for the existence of God. He begins by laying down a foundation for what he claims to know and then offers an explanation for why he previously accepted various ideas but is no longer certain of them. Before he arrives at the concept of God, Descartes categorizes ideas and the possible sources that they originate from. He then distinguishes between the varying degrees of reality that an idea can possess, as well as the cause of an idea. Descartes proceeds to investigate the idea of an infinite being, or God, and how he came to acquire such an idea with more objective reality than he himself has. By ruling out the possibility of this idea being invented or adventitious, Descartes concludes that the idea must be innate. Therefore, God necessarily exists and is responsible for his perception of a thing beyond a finite being.

    Read More

  • Descartes' First Meditation

    1330 Words  | 3 Pages

    Rene Descartes decision to shatter the molds of traditional thinking is still talked about today. He is regarded as an influential abstract thinker; and some of his main ideas are still talked about by philosophers all over the world. While he wrote the "Meditations", he secluded himself from the outside world for a length of time, basically tore up his conventional thinking; and tried to come to some conclusion as to what was actually true and existing. In order to show that the sciences rest on firm foundations and that these foundations lay in the mind and not the senses, Descartes must begin by bringing into doubt all the beliefs that come to him by the senses. This is done in the first of six different steps that he named "Meditations" because of the state of mind he was in while he was contemplating all these different ideas. His six meditations are "One:Concerning those things that can be called into doubt", "Two:Concerning the Nature of the Human mind: that it is better known than the Body", "Three: Concerning God, that he exists", "Four: Concerning the True and the False", "Five: Concerning the Essence of Material things, and again concerning God, that he exists" and finally "Six: Concerning the Existence of Material things, and the real distinction between Mind and Body". Although all of these meditations are relevant and necessary to understand the complete work as a whole, the focus of this paper will be the first meditation.

    Read More

  • Descartes: Objective Proof Of An External World

    1583 Words  | 4 Pages

    God is in this infinite recursive loop of all attributes, and is so perfect that the mind could not conceptualize it. Descartes believes that the only explanation of this thought of God is that God himself put the idea in Descartes mind. Descartes God argument is: 1. I can think of a perfect God. 2.

    Read More

More about Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy

Open Document