Descartes and the Existence of God

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Descartes and the Existence of God

Once Descartes has realized that he can know with certainty that “I exist” is true, he continues to build on his foundation of truths. The truth about the nature of God, proof of God’s existence, and the nature of corporeal objects are considered, among others, after Descartes proves his existence. Descartes’ principal task in the Meditations was to devise a system that would bring him to the truth. He wanted to build a foundation from which all further philosophical inquiry could be built. It was essential that his beliefs were sound. If any one of them were at all in doubt, then it put the credibility of the whole structure of knowledge in jeopardy. I will discuss a few of the topics Descartes analyzes after his epiphany of existence. Throughout the essay, I will raise some doubts that I have pertaining to Descartes’ conclusions as well.

In his second meditation, when Descartes pushes the method of doubt to its fullest extent, several truths survive; since these cannot be doubted Descartes must know them. The first of these is that “I exist.” The second truth, when Descartes asks “what am I?” caught my attention. I found it odd that he tests potential answers by asking whether he can doubt them. The test appears strange because one’s ability to doubt something doesn’t normally show that it is false. If I can doubt that I have the hairiest legs at West Virginia University, does it follow that I do not? It is later when Descartes rephrases his answer, and so his question, in terms of “what is inseparable from my nature,” that I realized that the question was special. When he proceeds to say “I am now admitting nothing except what is necessarily true,” I finally saw that the apparent...

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...a cause, and since I am imperfect, the idea has to have been originated from a perfect source or God.”

In Descartes’ Cosmological Proof of God, I understand that the cause of an idea must have as much formal reality as the objective reality of the idea. I also understand that the idea has infinite objective reality. However, I am not fully convinced that it is impossible for a mortal, finite person to take the idea of a finite being and continually think “upward,” forming the idea that there is a being that is supreme to themselves.

Descartes’ epiphany of “I exist, I am” was the catalyst for the exploration of the issues he discusses in Meditations. Although I find problems in some instances of his reasoning, I realize that he has provided answers through his Method of Doubt that have endured the ages and allow us to continue to ponder their truth today.

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