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Descartes Argument For The Existence Of God

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How do I exist? In my opinion, this is one of the most significant arguments that Descartes puts forward in his Meditations. How can he, or I, exist if there were no God? It is clear that by the time Descartes comes to write the Third Meditation, he is certain that he, Descartes, exists – but the underlying question is, how? God plays an important part in this (Cogito) argument (Stanford, 2014) because he rules out himself (Descartes, 1998, Page 38). Descartes suggests that if he created himself, then he would be of infinite power, and that he would have been created perfect. Yet he makes clear that he is of finite power and therefore cannot have created himself, and subsequently is not perfect (Descartes, 1998, Page 38). It is also not unreasonable to argue that most, if not all beings, are to a certain extent, dependent on others for their existence and survival. Descartes further goes on to disprove parents. The argument of God in existence is strengthened here – in a long cycle, who created his parents’ parents, and their parents’ parents, and so on? The theme is – who began their existence, and then, who maintained it? This leads to one ultimate answer for Descartes – God. For him, humanity must have been created by God, the foundation of what exists. The …show more content…

One must presume that if we strive to learn new information, then we would always strive for the truth. This is where I believe he has one of his strongest arguments. The existence of God can therefore lead to more knowledge – from this theory, I see God as a fundamental foundation for knowledge and how we all gain it. I strongly believe that Descartes is entitled to use God’s existence in this way. It is apparent to me that we cannot have full knowledge, or at least unimpeded access to knowledge, if God did not

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Descartes then attempts to define what he is. He previously believed that he had a spirit and body, by methods for which he was fed, moved, could sense, absorb space, had a distinct area and think. Each one of those methods are thrown into uncertainty except thinking. Since he can think, he should exist. He thinks about whether he no longer exists once his reasoning comes to a halt.

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In Meditation Five of Meditations on First Philosophy, René Descartes makes his argument for a supreme being, which he refers to as “God.” Descartes creates his argument based on the two premises that 1) if a supreme being exists, then it must hold all perfections, and that 2) existence is a perfection. These two premises lead to the conclusion that a supreme being does indeed exist, and in response to this argument, I will provide a counterexample, as well as the response that Descartes would likely provide to this objection. To begin his argument, Descartes first leads readers into his line of thinking in order that they might understand the possibility of the existence of a supreme being. Throughout his argument, Descartes relies on

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However, Descartes is indeed certain of the fact that he is a thinking being, and that he exists. As a result of this argument, Descartes makes a conclusion that the things he perceives clearly and distinctly cannot be false, and are therefore true (Blanchette). This clear and distinct perception is an important component to the argument that Descartes makes in his fifth meditation for the existence of God. This paper explains Descartes ' proof of God 's existence from Descartes ' fifth meditation, Pierre Gassendi 's objection to this proof, and then offers the paper 's author 's opinion on both the proof and objection.

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Descartes gave a few arguments that God exists and is real. Desocrates believed our idea of God is that God is a perfect being, he believed he is more perfect to exist than not to exist. Desocrates also believed that God is a infinite being. Descartes idea would be that God gave us this idea to type this paragraph about him so he must be real. When he thinks negative of an idea or thought he wonders if an evil demon plotted those thoughts.

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Descartes states with clarity that it does not seem possible for him to “to discover the [impenetrable] purposes of God” due to being in a state that does not reach God’s infinity (111). Being in a realm where nothingness does promote error, it is plausible that we have yet to acclaim knowledge or a true source that could help us understand God’s reasons behind our imperfect creation. Descartes narrows down the central concept to two faculties: the power of knowing (intellect) and the power of choice (free will). He understands that free will is the known infinite faculty, so our intellect is what determines our state of finity. Our knowledge is limited in comparison to God, and because of it, we are unable to give our full judgement to what God has committed because we do not understand its purpose in relation to its function in the world.

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The existence of God is a highly debatable topic; the different views of believers, atheists and agnostics, show us that God's Existence remains a question with no definite final answer. Descartes is one of many philosophers who tried to establish a number of arguments in order to prove God's Existence. In fact, the French philosopher formulated the "trademark argument", an argument that he developed and defended in order to prove that God does exist despite the doubt that many have. In the first place, I will start by defining the trademark argument and the procedure Descartes used to attain it including the first principle summarized in the Cartesian method and the theory of ideas which puts God at the origin of the idea of His Existence.

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We know clear and distinct perceptions independently by God, and his existence provides us with a certainty we might not possess otherwise. However, another possible strategy would be to change Gods role in Descartes philosophy. Instead of seeing God as the validation of clear and distinct perceptions, rather see him as a safeguard against doubt. This strategy, however, is a problem since it re-constructs the Meditations – Philosophical work of Descartes –.This is because it would not be God, who is the ultimate foundation of knowledge, but the clear and distinct

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Firstly, Lloyd illustrates how Descartes adapted reason into a methodical thought that he used to attempt to form a rational basis for the belief in God (Lloyd, 1993:39). Descartes mentions in the Meditations dedicatory letter that he believes that for theists it is their faith that holds the rational basis for belief in God, whereas atheists do not have this faith and so it lies in reason to prove that God exists in order to persuade them (Descartes, 1996:3). However, REFERENCE AGAINST THIS POINT Moreover, from Descartes thoughts on reasoning he stemmed his dualistic view of the body and mind being two separate entities, which Lloyd notes includes the distinction between the rational mind, which Descartes identifies with the soul, and the irrational body (Lloyd, 1993:45). As Descartes has established his dualistic view, he highlights the cogito in his third meditation,

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Existence is something that can be imagined and therefore is false and a fallacy. How does Descartes really know he exists maybe he is just imaging it all and that his premises behind the existence of God are fake as well. If someone exist then they must have been born which would mean that Descartes parents where the ones who brought him into existence, and their parents brought them in to existence and so on and so on. This would mean that God did not create Descartes existence but that someone way far down the chain of human existence started it

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I do not think Descartes would disagree with Anselm’s assertion, but he builds upon and strengthens the ontological proof with 1) asserting God’s perfection and 2) by applying his doctrine of clear and distinct ideas. Much like the idea of a triangle, the concept of God exists within Descartes “no less…than the idea of any figure or number”. (Med. V.65). Descartes possess an idea, a concept of a supremely perfect being, much like his idea of a triangle, with immutable mathematical characteristics.

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This essay will now begin the task of laying out the objection to Descartes’

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Descartes’ version of the ontological argument offers a logical conclusion for the existence of God. As is consistent among all versions of the ontological arguments, a series of premises are offered, that once excepted naturally draw the conclusion that God exists. Descartes argument builds off of the argument originally presented by Anselm 500 years prior to Descartes account. Arguably, Descartes strengthened the argument through adapting it to his Cartesian philosophy. Although, improvements may have been made, Descartes’ argument suffers from the same fallacious reasoning present in Anselm’s argument.

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The next step that Descartes uses in the second meditation is the existence of this Godly figure. He questions his own beliefs with that of the God, and argues that a mind should be capable of thinking for them to be of existence, “Is there not some God, or some other being by whatever name we call it, which puts these reflections into my mind? That is not necessary, for is it not possible that I am capable of producing them myself?” He then puts forward that for one to be deceived by this “evil demon” as he describes it, they have to exist to be deceived.

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Logically speaking, Hume’s theory makes the most sense due to the knowledge learned from cause and effect. I understand the relationship between the beginning to its adjacent cause and it applies to everyday life in society. Unlike Hume, Descartes suggests the origin of knowledge is logical and through self-doubt. Yet, he is unable to provide proof of the existence of god despite playing a substantial role in his theory.

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Obesity is a growing global health problem. It is typically a result of over-eating of unhealthy diet and the lack of enough exercise. We all know that very well. It is a very serious matter for this world yet people don’t take it as a serious issue. Over-weighted people can have dangerous effects, emotional problems, and take a lot of responsibilities to get back to their normal weight.

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