Descartes Existence Of God Analysis

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The purpose of my essay will be to examine Descartes' argument for the existence of God. First, I will discuss Descartes’ proof for the existence of God then I will critique the argument of his existence. Lastly, I will point to some complications and problems that exist within the proof. Descartes’ proof of the existence of God is presented in the Third Meditation. He shapes his argument on the proof in the Second Meditation that in order for Descartes to think he must exist. From this specific examination he realizes his existence is very clear and distinct in his mind because of the fact he had just discovered his own existence. He then creates a rule that whatever things he sees are clear and distinct, are all true. Descartes begins his proof by splitting his thoughts into four categories, which consist of ideas, judgments, volitions, and emotions. He then further analyzes these categories to decide which thoughts might consist of error.
In order to understand Descartes thoughts you first need to realize there is no error in portraying an idea. There can only be error in the judgment of whether the idea is wrong or right. For example, I may have an idea of what it would feel like to get a tattoo, but in order for my idea to be right or wrong I would need to make a judgment first in order for me to believe the idea. For the lack of better words, having an idea and believing an idea are two completely different things. Regarding the thought of volitions, it also does not consist of error since you can choose anything you want and not find error in the reason why you chose it. Finally, when it comes to Descartes’ thought of emotion, it does not obtain any error either because you can desire anything in the world and not find err...

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...rmal and objective reality. I don’t agree with the fact that in order for me to have an idea, it would exist. For example, I can think of God and I can also think of a person being so imperfect. Since Descartes holds that existence is perfection, how can this idea of an absolutely imperfect being exist? Stated in Descartes’ rule, objective reality is derived from formal reality but in this case there is no formal reality. Therefore I do not see how the existence of God is possible.
In conclusion, Descartes described many theories as to why he believes that God exists. From creating rules to breaking down his thought process, you can see where he gets his reasoning’s and ideas behind Gods existence. Although he had many proofs to Gods existence, his reasoning’s appeared to be unclear in many circumstances resulting in the original question whether God exists or not.

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