Criticisms of Descartes Meditations Concerning the Existence of God

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My intent in this essay is to illustrate that the arguments regarding the existence of God and the fear of deception in Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy, are quite weak and do not justify his conclusions. To support these claims, I will begin by outlining two specific meditations and explain the proposed arguments. Later, I will critically analyze his arguments, revealing unjust conclusions. Doubts surrounding the text include the suggested characteristics of God, the condition of perfection, and the nature of deceit. A wrap up will include a discussion on whether or not Descartes (also referred to as Renatus) succeeded in his project.

The bulk of Descartes’ arguments in regards to the existence of God occur within meditation three. Having previously stripped himself of all material knowledge, all that Renatus can be certain of is his own ideas and that he is a “thinking thing” (35). Being a “thinking thing” speaks to his ability to create ideas, and is really all that proves his existence to himself. Although he stresses that the ideas that he conceives in his mind cannot be false, it is determined that his application of those ideas in the form of judgments are subject to error (37). Furthermore, his ideas are categorized as being innate, adventitious, and manmade. Innate ideas are instinctual, uninfluenced truths; which is contrasted by adventitious ideas that are learned through experience. The third process of thought is made-up ideas, such as imagination (38). These forms of ideas are necessary to the text because they are essentially the only things known to exist, and to categorize them is to define their origin. The strain is placed on understanding objective reality: the application of ideas influe...

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..., whether he can be a deceiver. For if I do not know this, it seems that I can never be quite certain about anything else” (36). The arguments he made in regards to the existence of a Supreme Being may not have been very powerful, but their implications are critical to Renatus. In defining God, Renatus learned of the idea of ultimate good, conditions of perfection versus imperfection, the emotional ‘safety net’ of religion, a commonality with another being, and had to face the corruption associated with evil. Although his project also involved math/geometry and senses, their most useful application was in regards to supporting his claims about God. In conclusion, although I do not feel that Descartes succeeded in his project, he would not have reached an end that satisfied himself were he not to focus so much on the existence of God, and the issue of deception.

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