Descarte Essay Research Paper The purpose of

Descarte Essay, Research Paper

The purpose of this paper will be to examine Descartes’ argument for the existence of God. First we will review Descartes’ proof for the existence of God. Then we will discuss the reasons that Descartes has for proving God’s existence. We will also discuss some consequences that appear as a result of God’s existence. Finally we will point to some complications and problems that exist within the proof. The primary problem with most religions in the world has always been that they presuppose faith; that is one cannot be reasoned into believing in a religion, if such wasn’t the case then we would have seen a huge migration to one religion or another. In any given religion, the main proof of God’s existence is the fact that the holy scriptures- whichever ones they maybe- inform us of his existence and his powers. Then again, we only believe in these scriptures because we think that they come from God. Suffice to say, this is a circular argument that cannot be used as a proof. We would all like to believe that we believe in God and our given religion because of faith. But what is faith? And how can a Muslim, a Jew, and a Christian all possess the same certainty about their given religions without there being any doubt in their minds as to the certainty of their religions and faith. Descartes set out to build a set of arguments designed to prove God’s existence. On those, he constructed all of his other arguments. His goal in proving God’s existence was twofold; he wanted to build ground to base his arguments on, that is that he exists …etc. That goal will not be discussed in too much depth in this paper. It is his other goal, the one that he addressed in his letter to the Sorbonne that will be focused on, that is to prove beyond a doubt God’s existence to all non-believers. Descartes starts by renouncing all his beliefs, so that he would not be shrouded by any misconceptions from reaching the truth. He notices that by doubting all of his preconceived ideas he is thinking. Descartes determines that in order for him to think, he must exist. He states that he knows that to be the case beyond any doubt, and that this is the first principle of the philosophy he is seeking. From that single observation he deduces a rule which he will base his entire argument upon. Descartes notices that the idea of his existence is very clear and distinct in his mind; based upon this clarity, and the fact that he has just determined his own existence, he infers that the things that he sees as very clear and very distinct are all true. Descartes employs another interesting rule for his logic, or way of thinking. That objective reality cannot exist without formal reality; that is to say that an idea cannot originate without a cause. And that ideas can be less perfect than their cause but never more so. He also explains that those ideas in us that obviously do not have formal reality, such as a mermaid, are merely combinations of other formal realities- in this case a woman and a mermaid- and thus do not invalidate the rule. Descartes also explains the difference between being an idea and being merely an opposite of an idea. He uses heat and cold as his example; whereas heat is an idea, cold is merely the lack of heat. That is a very important notion that he uses in his argument to diffuse a potentially crippling critique of his argument. Descartes, after establishing his rules, explains that he knows that he is not perfect. He knows that because he doubts, and he can clearly see that knowing is more perfect than doubting. From that he determines that within him lies this idea of a perfect being, and that he is incapable of coming to such an idea by himself. Descartes determines that such an idea must have a formal reality, a cause. That cause, he reasons, could not have originated from a less perfect reality or being, since he has already established that ideas can be less perfect than their cause but never more perfect. He then determines that this idea could not have been composed of several ideas or causes because “composition attests to dependence and that dependence is manifestly a defect”; and since God, or the idea of God, contains within it all perfections, God was not such composed. Descartes also determines several qualities he deduces that God possesses merely by observing himself. He determines that whatever ideas he had, if they contained perfections then God would possess them, and if they were marred by any imperfections then God would not possess them.

Descartes next point is that the idea of God contains within itself God’s existence in much the same way that geometrical arguments contain their own proofs and properties. He explains that although the idea of a triangle contains within itself certain properties, such as having three sides and that the sum of all angles equals one hundred and eighty degrees; there was nothing within that idea that proves the triangles’ existence. By employing that logic, Descartes determines that since the idea of a God contains within itself existence, in as much as existence being a perfection, then the existence of God, or the idea of God is at least as certain as geometrical arguments. combining that with his ideas of objective reality he determines that God’s existence is at least as certain as anything else’s existence. God’s existence, to Descartes is at least as certain as the existence of the stars, the sky, the eart