Descartes' Proof of the Existence of God in Meditation Three This paper is intended to explain and evaluate Descartes' proof for the existence of god in Meditation Three. It shall show the weaknesses in the proof, but also give credit to the strengths in his proof. It will give a background of what Descartes has already accepted as what he truly knows. The paper will also state Descartes two major points for the existence of God and why the points can easily be proven false. The paper will also show that if a God does exist that God can in fact be an evil deceiver. The paper will also show that the idea of a perfect being cannot be conceived by an imperfect being. Descartes starts the meditation by saying what he has already learned in the first two meditations. He states all that he affirms as what he truly knows, "I am a thinking thing, that is to say, which doubts which affirms, which denies, which knows a few things, which is ignorant of many, which loves which hates, which wills, which rejects, which imagines also, and which senses" (33 lines19-22 Descartes, Lafleur) Descartes then states that he wishes to extend his knowledge through knowledge in his own self. He judges things that he once knew as fact to possibly now be doubtful and uncertain and that all his prior knowledge could have just been a work from a deceitful God. If then he wishes to learn from within himself and a deceitful God does in fact exist how can he affirm any knowledge within himself or even any knowledge he has affirmed through his meditations? If ideas that he once had now seemed uncertain then does that not mean all he knows can just be a work of a deceitful God, if of course a God does exist. Descartes after saying he wishes to lea... ... middle of paper ... ...y the same reason for doubting any other intuition, including further intuitions about God himself." (131-132 lines 37-40, 1-2 Wilson) In conclusion Descartes, who may have been highly educated in his time, cannot compete with what modern science has shown for proof of evolution and the idea of spontaneous generation. Descartes perception and proof falls well short of bringing concrete evidence that God does indeed exist in the way as Descartes describes. Perhaps if Descartes wouldn't have so quickly jumped to the conclusion that God exists and accepted through the rest of his writings then he may have been able to find more solid proof that God indeed exists in one form or another. Although it is very easy to dismiss the existence of God there is truly only one way to know for sure, and I'm positive that by now Descartes knows for sure whether or not God exists.
Rene Descartes’ third meditation from his book Meditations on First Philosophy, examines Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God. The purpose of this essay will be to explore Descartes’ reasoning and proofs of God’s existence. In the third meditation, Descartes states two arguments attempting to prove God’s existence, the Trademark argument and the traditional Cosmological argument. Although his arguments are strong and relatively truthful, they do no prove the existence of God.
In the “Mediations of First Philosophy” Descartes tries to prove the existence of God in the third meditation. He does this by coming up with several premises that eventually add up to a solid argument. First, I will explain why Descartes ask the question, does god exist? And why does Descartes think he needs such and argument at this point in the text. Secondly, I will explain, in detail, the arguments that Descartes makes and how he comes to the conclusion that God does exist. Next, I will debate some of Descartes premises that make his argument an unsound one, including circular reasoning. Finally, I will see if his unsound argument has diminished and undermined his principal goals and the incorrigible foundation of knowledge.
The meditator’s endeavor in Rene Descartes’ meditations on first philosophy is introduced through a biographical account, with which any reader can relate. Realizing how in the past he had “accepted many false claims as true” and “how everything [he] had later constructed on top of those falsehoods was doubtful”, he feels the need to “tear everything down completely and begin from the most basic foundations”. His objective is to establish a body of knowledge which is absolutely certain.
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.
Once Descartes has realized that he can know with certainty that “I exist” is true, he continues to build on his foundation of truths. The truth about the nature of God, proof of God’s existence, and the nature of corporeal objects are considered, among others, after Descartes proves his existence. Descartes’ principal task in the Meditations was to devise a system that would bring him to the truth. He wanted to build a foundation from which all further philosophical inquiry could be built. It was essential that his beliefs were sound. If any one of them were at all in doubt, then it put the credibility of the whole structure of knowledge in jeopardy. I will discuss a few of the topics Descartes analyzes after his epiphany of existence. Throughout the essay, I will raise some doubts that I have pertaining to Descartes’ conclusions as well.
Playing particular attention to meditations II, V, and VI this paper will explore the role of the imagination as examined by Descartes. In the second meditation, Descartes is of the opinion that the imagination and the senses are deceiving him, and that the nature of bodies are perceived by the intellect as opposed to the imagination. Within the body of this paper, the introduction of his wax argument will serve as support for this realization. In addition, in the sixth meditation Descartes makes the argument that the imagination depends on something outside of ourselves, and therefore is not essential. The means by which he reached such a position will be explored through the relationship that exists between the imagination and the understanding. Through a critical analysis of Descartes reasoning this paper shall explore the different approaches that led him to his conclusion at the end of the sixth meditation that the imagination is not in fact deceiving him and is therefore to some extent necessary.
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.
To eliminate all foundation in which false knowledge and judgement was built on, Rene Descartes believed that he must doubt the existence of everything and refute all he once held true. To prove his own existence and find a new foundation to build his knowledge from scratch. Descartes provides two very convincing arguments in the First Meditation, the Dream argument, and the Evil Demon argument. Although Descartes makes strong points, he counteracts his own arguments in the First Meditation as he assumes existence based on the ability to think. By doing so, he added the premise of knowledge. The same knowledge that he deemed false and is attempting to disprove.
In his six Meditations, only four contain his argument about corporeal things and establishing himself as a thinking thing. Meditations three and four discuss the existence of God and the matter of true and false. Concerning Meditation three, Descartes proves God's existence and that He is not a deceiver, thereby allowing us to be sure that we are not deceived when we perceive things clearly and distinctly. The rest of the Meditations deal with him proving himself as a thinking thing and proving that the mind is separate from the body.
In the Discourse of Method and Meditations, Descartes performs a thought experiment which consists of putting aside all knowledge of things that rely upon man’s ideas. In doing so, Descartes reveals the idea of perfect certainty in man that is “inseparable from [his] nature (84). Through this, Descartes affirms the immovable and certain nature of an external being. Not only is he able to come to this conclusion, but also likewise believes that man is a thing that thinks, “[who] doubts, [who] affirms, [who] denies” (91). For a man is an existing thing who has a mind, which thinks. Man’s finite being affirms his dependability of God. This is the case for two reasons. One way in which man’s finitude confirms his dependability of God is seen through
Descartes did not end his assumptions after this meditation. However, he felt he had come a bit closer to achieving certain knowledge. Some of the many riddles that swirled in his head were put away for the moment. At the same time, he knew doubt can still creep and alter his beliefs as it did once before. For the sake of this argument, Descartes can relax knowing the mind is a certainty.
In Meditation on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes argues the existence of God and the dualism of the mind and body. There are several conclusions that Descartes makes throughout his Meditations, one being the existence of corporeal things. To reach this conclusion, Descartes must address many issues which overshadow and doubt his knowledge. In his Meditations, Descartes illustrates the origin of his doubts and how God plays a major role in it. He addresses his issues by using a system of logical reasoning which leads him to the conclusion of the existence of corporeal things.
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.
Descartes was incorrect and made mistakes in his philosophical analysis concerning understanding the Soul and the foundation of knowledge. Yes, he coined the famous phrase, “I think therefore I am,” but the rest of his philosophical conclusions fail to be as solid (Meditation 4; 32). Descartes knew that if he has a mind and is thinking thoughts then he must be something that has the ability to think. While he did prove that he is a thinking thing that thinks (Meditation 3; 28), he was unable to formulate correct and true philosophical arguments and claims. For instance, his argument for faith that a non-deceiving God exists and allows us to clearly reason and perceive was a circular argument. Another issue with Descartes' philosophy is that he wanted to reconcile scientific and religious views, which is wrong since the two maintain completely different foundational beliefs and they should exist exclusively- without relation to the other. Thirdly, he believed that the mind was the Self and the Soul, failing to recognize that humans have bodies and the outside world exists, and through which we gain our knowledgeable. Lastly, Descartes argues that ideas are all innate while they actually are not- we gain knowledge through experience.
Through out history there have been questions of where we come from and how we got here. It all comes down to the question of God’s existence. God’s existence has never been questioned during the times of when Christianity, Judaism and Islam were born. The question of God’s existence comes from our new way of thinking after these religions. Science has made us think of how things work in our world and brings Gods existence into question. There were no scientific studies done during the days of Jesus to prove that God exists, so where did the people in history get this idea of God from? Many philosophers have been questioning and giving their ideas of God and his existence. The ideas that we may have of God is usually connected with religion and our beliefs. One philosopher that touches on this topic is Descartes. Descartes gives his ideas on God’s existence and his out look on our selves compared to God. Most religions believe that there is a God and that he has created everything around us. Everyone has a different answer to this question that they think is the right one. Throughout this paper, I will be discussing God’s existence, while looking at Descartes ideas and through different perspectives of whether or not God exist as well.