The Cartesian Circle is Wrong
analytical Essay
1602 words
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 ...
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...ircle may have had a solid foundation and belief. However, I just gave you, with supporting evidence, my view of why the Cartesian circle is wrong and why I believe that Descartes was trying to make the point that God must exist in order for him or us to even have the clear and distinct perception to dwell on the idea of God, an idea that only God himself created. I hope this solves the issue of the Cartesian circle and hopefully strengthens Descartes argument of how the circle is false and he was maybe just misunderstood. My claim will stand that the Cartesian circle was just a big misunderstanding, and Descartes, by no means, interacted with the belief and structure of this falsified circle.
Works Cited
Descartes, R., & Cottingham, J. (1986). Meditation on First Philosophy: With Selections from the Objections and Replies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how rene descartes' meditations on the existence of god are profound, thought-provoking, and engaging.
- Explains that descartes' argument has been treated with dubious standpoints, such as the cartesian circle, which argues that he goes against his own word.
- Analyzes how descartes challenges himself to take on other arguments, such as that he may be supremely perfect, and that all his deficiencies are potentialities within him.
- Argues that the cartesian circle comes in play because descartes, misunderstanding his writing and phrasing of it, declares that we can only be sure of our clear and distinct perceptions if god exists.
- Opines that descartes was not interested in trying to prove that god exists because of our clear and distinct perceptions.
- Concludes that descartes' assertion that the intellect cannot outthink god or understand his ways is not enough to prove that god exists.
- Argues that descartes' purpose was to prove that god exists, and he has given us clear and distinct perceptions to consume the idea of god.
- Concludes that descartes' argument may have sounded confusing and the cartesian circle had a solid foundation and belief, but he was trying to make the point that god must exist in order for him or us to dwell on the idea of god.
- Describes descartes, cottingham, et al., meditation on first philosophy: with selections from the objections and replies.
Related
- analytical
- opinion
- Prove the Existence of God Using Who Has the Idea of Godanalytical essayIn 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.
In this essay, the author
- Explains how descartes uses his existence to prove the existence of god.
- Analyzes how descartes concludes i am created and preserved by god, the idea of god is also god gives me.
- Describes descartes, rené's meditations on first philosophy, trans. donald a. cress. third edition.
- Analyzes how descartes' philosophy requires an ability to recreate to complete, which infers that one's existence depends on a different existing substance.
- Analyzes how descartes denies the possibility the existence of himself is caused by some other causes simultaneously.
- Analyzes how descartes denies his parents are the reason he exists. his parents created him, though they did not preserve him.
- Analyzes how descartes believes the idea of god does not come from his senses, and it is not sensible.
930 wordsRead More - Descartes Existence Of God Analysisanalytical essayThe purpose of my essay will be to examine Descartes' argument for the existence of God. First, I will discuss Descartes’ proof for the existence of God then I will critique the argument of his existence. Lastly, I will point to some complications and problems that exist within the proof. Descartes’ proof of the existence of God is presented in the Third Meditation. He shapes his argument on the proof in the Second Meditation that in order for Descartes to think he must exist. From this specific examination he realizes his existence is very clear and distinct in his mind because of the fact he had just discovered his own existence. He then creates a rule that whatever things he sees are clear and distinct, are all true. Descartes begins his proof by splitting his thoughts into four categories, which consist of ideas, judgments, volitions, and emotions. He then further analyzes these categories to decide which thoughts might consist of error.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes descartes' argument for the existence of god in the third meditation and the second meditation.
- Explains that descartes' thoughts aren't error-free, but there is only error in the judgment of whether the idea is right or wrong.
- Analyzes how descartes' ideas are innate, adventitious, and invented by him.
- Explains descartes' rule that an idea can't exist without a cause, while objective reality is when ideas represent reality.
- Analyzes how descartes explains that he is imperfect because of his doubts. he determines different characteristics that god possesses just from observing himself.
- Explains that descartes discovered qualities within his existence, which led to the rule that all things that are clear and distinct are true.
- Analyzes how descartes uses what he envisions to be imperfect to determine which qualities are perfect and which are not.
- Explains that their final difficulty in discovering proof involves the concepts of formal and objective reality. they don't agree with the fact that in order for them to have an idea, it would exist.
- Concludes that descartes described many theories as to why he believes that god exists, from creating rules to breaking down his thought process.
1154 wordsRead More - Meditation By Rene Descartesanalytical essayUp until the Third Meditation, Descartes arguments made sense with minor flaws, but not every argument is perfect. Trying to prove God’s existence… I believe that people should not being trying to prove whether or not God is real. As Pascal said, “If there is a God, he is infinitely beyond our comprehension, since, being indivisible and without limits, he bears no relation to us… That being so, who would dare to attempt an answer to the question? Certainly not we, who bear no relation to him” (Pascal
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how rene descartes' greatest work, meditations on first philosophy, attempts to build the base of knowledge through a skeptical point of view.
- Analyzes how descartes becomes inconsistent with his initial position on skepticism, stating that he must define a concept before we can prove its existence.
- Analyzes how descartes moves away from his skeptical point of view as he attempts to prove god's existence.
- Analyzes how descartes attempts to prove the existence of god to rid any doubts he may have of his perceptions, but why does it have to be god?
- Analyzes descartes' argument that god is the most perfect being, but this is only an assumption, which can be doubted.
1373 wordsRead More - An Analysis Of Descartes And The Existence Of Godanalytical essayDescartes goes on to prove the existence of God in two different ways. His arguments rely on that fact that we have a clear and distinct idea of God. The first way is the cosmological proof where the idea that something cannot come from nothing because something has to exist in order to create something else. As a finite being, it would be impossible for us to come up with an idea for something or someone
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how descartes gets rid of beliefs that he isn't certain of and keeps the ones that are undoubtable. he tries to prove that god has must exist since we have a clear and distinct idea of him.
- Analyzes how descartes proves the existence of god in two different ways: cosmological proof and ontological proof.
- Argues that descartes' argument does not prove without a doubt that god exists, since his proof is based on the premises that he believes in god or in his attributes.
- Explains that descartes' cosmological and ontological proofs are based on the premise that the idea of god is needed to prove god's existence.
842 wordsRead More - Descartes Meditation Vanalytical essayAquinas argues that “Perhaps not everyone who hears this word "God" understands it to signify something than which nothing greater can be thought”, thus Descartes’ argument is only plausible for those who view God in the same light that he does. Nevertheless, this criticism is easy to solve. If we replace the word “God” with “a being than which none greater can be conceived”, then we instead establish that a being of which none greater can be conceived exists, and we naturally assume that this being is God. Nonetheless, Aquinas continues with a second flaw in Descartes argument, the lack of establishment between physical and mental existence. In light of Aquinas’ criticism, it becomes apparent that Descartes’ argument does nothing to show the physical existence of God. In Axiom X ,Descartes claims “Existence is contained in the idea or concept of every single thing, since we cannot conceive of anything except as existing”. However, this does not prove that God exists, for example, if I imagine a unicorn, this proves the mental existence of unicorns, however it does no such thing for the physical existence. Therefore, Descartes premise may be true, but it fails to be specific enough to make a convincing
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how descartes presents the ontological argument for the existence of god in meditation v. this argument is open to attacks from aquinas, kant, leibniz, gaunilo and hume.
- Analyzes aquinas' criticism of descartes' argument, arguing that the word "god" is only plausible for those who view god in the same light as he does.
- Analyzes kant's argument that existence does not function as a predicate, which diminishes descartes' point that to be perfect, something must exist.
- Analyzes how gaunilo faults the ontologist's "simply defines things into existence" analogy of an island.
- Analyzes hume's argument that knowledge is either a priori or posteriori, arguing that god is not dependent of sense experience and pure reasoning.
1286 wordsRead More - In Descartes’ second meditation, he offers up an argument for Defective Nature Doubt that brings forth the idea that we can’t be certain of anything we perceive being actual and real (153). Descartes thinks that there is a possibility that we are constantly being deceived due to the fact that we don’t know, with perfect certainty, know where our ideas originate from (154). He tries to describe a method in order to dispel this Defective Nature Doubt by giving an argument for the existence of God. I think that the argument he gives for the existence of God is valid, yet I find it to be unsound due to the fact that a few of his premises are can easily be debated. In order to express this opinion, I will first provide explanations of the premises and conclusions of the argument, and then I will critique the premises that I find to be inadequate in order to support my opinion that Descartes’ argument is valid but unsound.
In this essay, the author
- Opines that descartes' argument for the existence of god is valid, but unsound due to the fact that his premises can easily be debated.
- Opines that descartes' argument for the existence of god begins with him describing himself as a thinking thing.
- Analyzes how descartes' third premise attempts to give readers a better understanding of the idea that he has about god.
- Analyzes how descartes concludes that god must have been the entity that placed the ideas of god into his mind.
- Opines that descartes' argument as a whole is valid because if all the premises were true, then the conclusion that god exists would be true.
- Opines that descartes' third premise contributes to the argument being unsound and hard to believe.
1088 wordsRead More - Argument Essay On Ontological Argumentanalytical essayIf looked at closely, one thing that comes out in the open is that the ontological argument given by Descartes differs from the original explanations of the ontological argument. The model for the majority of conventional deductions is the ontological argument presented by St. Anselm in the Proslogium II. Interpreted loosely, Descartes argument means that his notion of God is that of a superlatively perfect being. In itself, existence is excellence. In reality, God must exist or else the idea that one has about God would lack any form of perfection and as expected this would be illogical. The core of God is confined in the idea of existence just like the essence of a triangle revolves around its three sides (Platinga 11).
In this essay, the author
- Explains that the ontological argument has its major foundations on the words of desecrates that are clearly spelled out in the fifth meditation.
- Analyzes how descartes' ontological argument differs from st. anselm's model for the majority of conventional deductions. the core of god is confined in the idea of existence.
- Analyzes how descartes' ontological argument focuses on existence in relation to the perfection of god. he claims that any idea that an individual has on god must reflect this need.
- Explains that descartes depicts necessary existence as an ontological requirement or perpetual as well as the unconditioned existence.
- Analyzes how descartes' variation between dependent and important features is significant because he refers to either dependent or necessary being instead of simply referring to plain existence.
- Explains that the ontological argument has received a fair share of objections over time. gaunilo marmoutier argued that there must be something wrong with it.
- Explains that if the ontological argument is functional, then the argument for the existence of the ideal island is also functional.
- Explains that gaunilo's claim of an ideal island is unrealistic because it is a perfect island with numerous palm trees and exotic beaches.
- Explains that kant's objection to the ontological argument is based on the belief that the existent god is greater than the one that is non-existent.
- Opines that the objection presented by kant nullifies the ontological argument on the existence of god.
1014 wordsRead More - Descartes Perception about Godanalytical essayFrom Descartes' perception, nature is a depiction of God; therefore, God must fundamentally exist, to the extent that as he, too, is an outcome of His own creation. Descartes was one of many thinkers who fully braced this argument in support of God's actuality, challenging that the external world is the dominant force behind the existence of all persons. Descartes' claims, as depicted inside the scholarly borders of Meditations on First Philosophy, were created not in astrophysical or ontological quarrels but rather in teleological debate, to the extent that the philosopher thought that there has to be an all-powerful entity accountable for all the drive and command that is found within physical life and, thereby, encouraging a sense of marvel about the world.
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how descartes offers a realistic theory for god's being, which is built upon human nature’s philosophical reasoning.
- Analyzes how descartes demonstrates how human beings are the source of thought, the perpetual connection to the divine intellect that is inside, in front of and behind all form.
- Explains that descartes' philosophical writings obeyed a path of pureness and genuineness. he believed in the importance of ethics as it connected to individuals within the natural world.
- Explains how meditation iii has revived an awareness of wonder about the world through descartes' articulate descriptions.
993 wordsRead More - Descartes argues that we can know the external world because of God, and God is not a deceiver. Descartes’ core foundation for understanding what is important comes from three points: our thoughts about the world and the things in it could be deceptive, our power of reasoning has found ideas that are indubitable, and certainty come by way of reasoning. Once we have a certainty of God, and ourselves then we are easily able to distinguish reality from dreams, and so on. God created us and gave us reason, which tells us that our ideas of the external world come from God. God has directly provided us with the idea of the external world. The concept of existence, the self, and doubt could not have existed on its own; therefore they had to be created by someone to have put them in our mind. That creator is God, who is omnipotent and perfect. God is not a deceiver to me; God is good, so therefore what I perceive really does exist. God without existence is like a mountain without a valley. A valley does not exist if there is no mountain, and vice versa a mountain is not a mountain with out a valley. We cannot believe or think of God without existence. We know the idea of God, and that idea inevitably contains his existence. My thought on god is clear and distinct that he is existent. Descartes’ now has ‘rebuilt’ the world, solely because of his power and reasoning. Descartes’ is only able...
In this essay, the author
- Argues that hume's or descartes' philosophical position on the existence of the external world is stronger than the other.
- Analyzes how descartes argues that we can know the external world because of god, and god is not a deceiver.
- Analyzes how descartes thinks about his own imperfections, and how it has to come from something superior to him.
- Explains that descartes argues that corporeal things exist because god cannot be a deceiver.
- Analyzes how hume argues that we can never know the external world as it really is, because we only know our impressions.
- Analyzes how hume argues that humans are a collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable swiftness and are in perpetual flux and movement.
- Compares hume and descartes' positions on the existence of the external world.
- Concludes that hume has a stronger position on the existence of the external world than descartes.
1321 wordsRead More - An Analysis Of George Berkeley And Descartesanalytical essayAccording 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
In this essay, the author
- Analyzes how philosophers george berkeley and rené descartes use reasoning to prove the existence of god in three dialogues between hylas and philonous and discourse on method and meditations on first philosophy.
- Analyzes how descartes doubts the validity of what he believed to be true according to the teachings of books and human opinions of his youth.
- Opines that when one doubts that one is incomplete and dependent, there comes to mind a clear and distinct idea of an independent and complete being, that is god, and draws the obvious conclusion that god also exists.
- Analyzes how berkeley rejects descartes' philosophy by arguing that matter, or sensible things, only exist within the human mind.
- Opines that men believe that all things are known or perceived by god, whereas i, on the other side, immediately and necessarily conclude the being of a god.
- Analyzes how berkeley deduces that the ideas that stem from the impressions of objects are not his own.
- Analyzes how rené descartes and george berkeley ventured to create a foundation of certainty and truth in their writings by proving the existence of god.
850 wordsRead More