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Descartes Proof Of God's Existence

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Descartes first proof of Gods existence is first introduced in his Third Meditation. This proof is based on his Causal Adequacy Principle regarding the causes of effects. According to this principle, no effect can exist without a cause, and this cause must possess at least as much reality as the effect (Skirry 1). Descartes applies this principle to track the causes of ideas. According to his philosophy, ideas are what connect the mind to the world because there are two types of reality contained in them. Objective reality is the reality that the idea of the thing represents. For instance, the objective reality contained in the idea of an apple is what the idea of an apple represents. Formal reality is the actual reality contained in the thing or the reality that the thing has in the world. Descartes argues that in order for an idea to be caused, the cause must have as much formal reality as the idea has objective reality. In this world, substances have affections, and those affections are either attributes or modes. There are two types of attributes Primary (i.e., essential properties) and Omni-generic …show more content…

Descartes builds this proof upon his assumption that whatever he clearly and distinctly perceives is necessarily true (God guarantees these perceptions truth because he is no deceiver). For instance, one of triangles attributes is to have three sides this attribute is inseparable from its nature because Descartes perceives this attribute clearly and distinctly. Hence, the nature of a triangle with more or less than three sides can’t be unintelligible. The idea of God is an idea of an infinite substance or a being that possesses all perfections and actual existence is one of those perfections. Without containing actual existence, the idea of God is unintelligible because it’s impossible to conceive of an infinite substance with an imperfection. Therefore, God exists because existence is one of his

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