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Descartes Proof Of God Analysis

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I will argue that Descartes ' proof of God in theory sounds valid, until one realizes they 're being led in a circle. Descartes has an idea of an infinite, perfect (omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent) being or God. He believes the fact he, a finite being, can imagine such a perfect being, must mean this being instilled the idea in his mind. He claims that this idea is clear and distinct, or in other words, cannot be denied. Therefore God exists, and because God exists, he would not deceive Descartes by allowing him to have clear and distinct ideas that are false (SparkNotes Editors). It seems as though Descartes relies on his mind to imagine this perfect being, and then relies on this perfect being to not deceive his mind; but if the perfect being doesn 't exist, his mind could be deceiving him. In other words, Descartes has a clear and distinct idea of God, and he can trust this idea because God exists and would not deceive him. But how does he know God exists? Because he has a clear and distinct idea of Him. This sounds to me as if he 's going in a circle with his argument. …show more content…

However in the end, Descartes ' argument still relies on the fact a God exists, and without being able to prove a God exists, he fails at what he was trying to accomplish. Descartes can 't imagine a perfect God, because 'perfect ' is subjective and he can 't prove God to exist, because it is not necessary that we are created by a God. We could just as well be created by infinite invisible monster scientists, or the big bang. In conclusion, I have argued that Descartes ' proof of God, written about in Meditation III, is not a valid way of proving God 's existence. I 'm not suggesting there isn 't a God, I 'm suggesting Descartes ' proof isn 't adequate proof. He can 't rely on a God to not deceive him in his mission to prove there is a God, that just doesn 't make sense. It 's an argument that goes in a circle. Therefore it isn 't logical reasoning towards the existence

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