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

930 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Descartes proof that god exists

In this paper, I will explain how Descartes uses the existence of himself to prove the existence of God. The “idea of God is in my mind” is based on “I think, therefore I am”, so there is a question arises: “do I derive my existence? Why, from myself, or from my parents, or from whatever other things there are that are less perfect than God. For nothing more perfect than God, or even as perfect as God, can be thought or imagined.” (Descartes 32, 48) Descartes investigates his reasons to show that he, his parents and other causes cannot cause the existence of himself.

I do not cause the existence of myself

Descartes illustrates “I am not the reason I exist” from two perspectives:

(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.

(2)Indirect reason: I can assume I used to exist like now, but I cannot ignore the discontinuity of time and...

... middle of paper ...

...es me, “God should have endowed me with this idea, so that it would be like the mark of the craftsman impressed upon his work” (Descartes 34, 51). Descartes says “the whole force of the argument rest on the fact that I recognize that it would be impossible for me to exist, being of such a nature as I am (namely, having in me the idea of God), unless God did in fact exist.” (Descartes 35, 52) My nature and my existence themselves prove the existence of God, therefore, Descartes says “the mere fact of my existing and of there being in me an idea of a most perfect being, that is God, demonstrates most evidently that God too exists.” (Descartes 34, 51)

Works Cited

Descartes, René. "Meditation Three." Descartes, René. Meditations on First Philosophy. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Third Edition. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 1993. 24-35. Paperback.

Show More
Related

  • A Philoshpical Approach to Proving the Existence of God

    4011 Words  | 9 Pages

    The Ontological Argument, which argues from a definition of God’s being to his existence, is the first type of argument we are going to examine. Since this argument was founded by Saint Anslem, we will be examining his writings. Saint Anslem starts by defining God as an all-perfect being, or rather as a being containing all conceivable perfections. Now if in addition of possessing all conceivable perfections t...

    Read More

  • Descartes Meditation 1 Analysis

    958 Words  | 2 Pages

    Moving up the tower of certainty, he focuses on those ideas that can be supported by his original foundation. In such a way, Descartes’s goal is to establish all human knowledge on firm foundations. Thus, Descartes gains this knowledge from the natural light by using it to reference his main claims, specifically the existence of God in Meditation III, and provide an explanation to his radical thoughts. In Meditation III “The existence of God,” Descartes builds his foundation of certainty in the natural light through the examination of God’s existence.

    Read More

  • The Dream Argument by Rene Descartes

    1011 Words  | 3 Pages

    Descartes, Rene. Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy. Trans. Donald A. Cress. 4th ed. N.p.: Hackett, 1998. Print.

    Read More

  • Descartes Perception about God

    993 Words  | 2 Pages

    One of the main reasons why Meditation III carries out such a sense of curiosity is because Descartes' philosophical writings obeyed a very unique trail, one that pursued a path of pureness and genuineness. He believed truly in the importance of ethics as it connected to individuals within the natural world, and his idea of forming a suitable ethical language was assumed to be the only way in which people could accurately base their value structure. Within this natural realm of which he spoke, Descartes hypothesized that information was the definitive regulator of the environment, thus supporting the teleological quarrel as evidence of God. He continued and hypothesized as to how he could at last cover the vast gap that occurred between thought and action. It was through his texts that Descartes implemented the possibility that all thought and action are connected, bringing to attention the view of science and how it undeniably demonstrated the same evidence.

    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

  • The Rationalism of Descartes and Leibniz

    1674 Words  | 4 Pages

    Descartes, Rene. The Philosophical Writings, tr. John Cottingham and Dugald Murdoch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985.

    Read More

  • Psychology and William Wundt

    1488 Words  | 3 Pages

    Descartes, R. & Donald A. C. (1993). Discourse On Method; And, Meditations On First Philosophy / René Descartes; Translated By Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co.

    Read More

  • Comparing Knowledge in Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy and Hume’s An Enquiry Concerning

    860 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. Translated by John Cottingham. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge. 1996.

    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

    1175 Words  | 3 Pages

    of God; therefore, God must intrinsically exist, inasmuch as he, too, is a product of His own creation. Descartes was

    Read More

  • Empiricism Vs Descartes Essay

    1118 Words  | 3 Pages

    He expands on this by explaining the notion that there is a divine, infinite being, such as God, that is innate. Among these statements, Descartes doubts everything he has ever been told in his life, and only keeps the belief that there is an infinite being out there. In Meditations, he explicitly states “Nevertheless I have long had fixed in my mind the belief that an all-powerful God existed by whom I have been created such as I am.”

    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

  • Analysis of Descartes’ Mind/Body Distinction

    1172 Words  | 3 Pages

    [1] Descartes, Rene. Meditations on First Philosophy. 1641 [Translated by John Veitch (1901)] Meditation 6, http://www.classicallibrary.org/descartes/meditations/9.htm

    Read More

  • Descartes: Relationship Between Mind and Body

    935 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descartes. "Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy." Readings in Modern Philosophy. Ed. Roger Ariew and Eric Watkins. Vol. I. Indianapolis: Hackett, 2000. 22-55. Print.

    Read More

More about Prove the Existence of God Using Who Has the Idea of God

Open Document