Rene Descartes's View on God

1315 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Rene Descartes Source of Knowledge

Rene Descartes's View on God

In 1996, songwriter Joan Osborne performed a song called "One of Us" that was nominated for three Grammy Awards. What made this song so successful and interesting were the powerful lyrics that basically asked, "What if God were a human being?" As she was writing the lyrics to "One of Us," she was wondering about God and how the world would be different if God did exist in real life and not just a supernatural force. You may be asking yourself, "What does this have to do with the seventeenth century?" Well, in the seventeenth century, there was a man, named Rene Descartes, who was interested in God and wondered about His existence. After an unforgettable night in November 10, 1619, his interest in God became stronger, and had developed many views that concerned or were about God. When he expressed his investigations of applying inductive methods of science and mathematics to philosophy by the "Cogito ero sum" (I think, therefore I am), he started to argue the existence of God by saying that God and science could co-exist, since he proved that he existed.

Rene Descartes, a Catholic, had the benefit of an extensive classical education, which influenced him to become a great philosopher. When he was eight years old, "he was enrolled in the Jesuit school of La Fleche in Anjou, where he remained for eight years" ("Descartes"). There, he received instruction in mathematics, scholastic philosophy, and classical studies. Although he was planning on having a military career in the Netherlands, "his attention had already been attracted to the problems of mathematics and philosophy to which he was to devote the rest of his life" ("Descartes").

Descartes experienced an unfor...

... middle of paper ...

...

Descartes was an important philosopher in the seventeenth century and one of the reasons why was his view on God. Because of his knowledge and inspiration that November 10, he has been able to elaborate on philosophy. He had a mission to accomplish during his life, a mission to see the truth. He was able to accomplish this mission by seeking the truth of God, algebra and geometry, reasoning, and many other theories that have caused him to be called the father of modern philosophy.

Works Cited:

Descartes, Rene. The Philosophical Works of Descartes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1911.

Vrooman, Jack Rochford. Rene Descartes. New York: G.P. Putman's Sons, 1970.

"Descartes, Rene." Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Inc.,1952.

"Rene Descartes." Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 13 July 1999.

Show More
Related

  • Rene Descartes' Meditations on First Philosophy

    1961 Words  | 4 Pages

    Rene Descartes’ third meditation from his book Meditations on First Philosophy, examines Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God. The purpose of this essay will be to explore Descartes’ reasoning and proofs of God’s existence. In the third meditation, Descartes states two arguments attempting to prove God’s existence, the Trademark argument and the traditional Cosmological argument. Although his arguments are strong and relatively truthful, they do no prove the existence of God.

    Read More

  • Gladitorial Combat in Ancient Rome

    757 Words  | 2 Pages

    The culture of Ancient Rome had a distinct way to entertain its citizens. Besides spending times at the baths, Romans found pleasure and delight in the games held at the local coliseum. These games were among the bloodiest displays of public amusement in the history of man. Professional wrestling and boxing today, do not come close to the disgusting horrors that the people of Rome took so much pleasure in observing. Although the games were very bloody and extremely brutal, often killing many men and animals, the Romans enjoyed the scenery of life and death being very near. Watching men fight and eventually die a dreadful death, is what fascinated the Roman population in great degree as the games were one of their favorite ways to spend their leisure time. The ancient Romans had a very bloodthirsty taste for entertainment exhibited in the form of gladitorial combat.

    Read More

  • Descartes' Trademark Argument for God's Existence

    749 Words  | 2 Pages

    have an idea of a perfect being then it must exist. A cause, he argues

    Read More

  • Death and Responsibility in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

    1091 Words  | 3 Pages

    thinking he is in love with Rosaline (a lady whom we never see). It is

    Read More

  • Descartes' Proof for the Existence of God

    3413 Words  | 7 Pages

    Many readers follow Descartes with fascination and pleasure as he descends into the pit of skepticism in the first two Meditations, defeats the skeptics by finding the a version of the cogito, his nature, and that of bodies, only to find them selves baffled and repulsed when they come to his proof for the existence of God in Meditation III. In large measure this change of attitude results from a number of factors. One is that the proof is complicated in ways which the earlier discourse is not. Second is that the complications include the use of scholastic machinery for which the reader is generally quite unprepared -- including such doctrines as a Cartesian version of the Great Chain of Being, the Heirloom theory of causaltiy, and confusi ng terms such as "eminent," "objective" and "formal reality" used in technical ways which require explanation. Third, we live in an age which is largely skeptical of the whole enterprise of giving proofs for the existence of God. A puzzled student once remaked, "If it were possible to prove that God exists, what would one need faith for?" So, even those inclined to grant the truth of the conclusion of Descartes' proof are often skeptical about the process of reaching it.

    Read More

  • Prove the Existence of God Using Who Has the Idea of God

    930 Words  | 2 Pages

    In this paper, I will explain how Descartes uses the existence of himself to prove the existence of God. The “idea of God is in my mind” is based on “I think, therefore I am”, so there is a question arises: “do I derive my existence? Why, from myself, or from my parents, or from whatever other things there are that are less perfect than God. For nothing more perfect than God, or even as perfect as God, can be thought or imagined.” (Descartes 32, 48) Descartes investigates his reasons to show that he, his parents and other causes cannot cause the existence of himself.

    Read More

  • Descartes Proof of God

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    Rene Descartes’ arguments in “Meditations on First Philosophy” are questionable to exactly how valid and sound they really are. His proof for the existence of God in the fifth meditation is an example of one of his invalid and therefore unsound arguments.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Rene Descartes

    597 Words  | 2 Pages

    1) Rene Descartes challenges, in his meditations, the principles of philosophy, arguing that everything he knew, he learnt from or through his sense, experience and knowledge. Descartes utilizes two different domains of reality, formal reality and objective reality. Formal reality is the reality of existing objects or state of objects. Objective reality is the reality of the meaning of our concepts. Descartes eventually states that through the use of argument and deduction we can get from none basic beliefs to basic beliefs.

    Read More

  • Philosophy Of Descartes

    1455 Words  | 3 Pages

    Ideas, innovations, and inventions are all created from brilliant minds. Than how did these ideas come to be? Descartes believes that God is the cause of new innovations adding, therefore God instilled in us the idea of his existence. Explaining, in order for us to draw an idea from a presumption or thought, than an object must have been derived not by us but rather God. An example of his presumption of the existence of God would be the fact that if one cannot imagine a bookshelf without books. Whether one exists or not, it is true than that they cannot be separated from each other. Descartes follows by stating that “he cannot conceive God without existence, existence is inseparable from him.”

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Descartes Existence Of God

    805 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descartes often referred to as the “Father of Modern Philosophy” acquired his status by methods of reasoning to attain knowledge through one of his most influential philosophical writings Meditations on First Philosophy. One of the most pronounced and skeptical pieces from the mediations is Meditation III: “Of God: that He exist” where he tries to prove the existence of God, and his existence through God. I will be examining Descartes’ proof through its premises and conclusion as well as explain my reasoning for agreeing with the argument on the existence of God.

    Read More

  • An Analysis Of Descartes And The Existence Of God

    842 Words  | 2 Pages

    Descartes goes on to prove the existence of God in two different ways. His arguments rely on that fact that we have a clear and distinct idea of God. The first way is the cosmological proof where the idea that something cannot come from nothing because something has to exist in order to create something else. As a finite being, it would be impossible for us to come up with an idea for something or someone

    Read More

  • What Does It Mean To Say God Is Dead

    1165 Words  | 3 Pages

    Descartes is often regarded as the first thinker to emphasize the use of reason to develop the natural sciences. For him the philosophy was a thinking system that embodied all knowledge, and expressed it in this way. We must accept God as the existence of ideas. The idea of God must come from outside of someone’s thoughts and ideas. I find it hard for people to think like Descartes and many people are pushed away from looking at the existence of God because they find it hard to understand and believe what is actually going on.

    Read More

  • Descartes Proof Of God

    1660 Words  | 4 Pages

    Descartes thinks that we have a very clear and distinct idea of God. He thinks God must exist and Descartes himself must exist. It is a very different way of thinking shown from the six meditations. Descartes uses ideas, experiments, and “proofs” to try and prove God’s existence.

    Read More

  • Descartes' Wax Passage

    1085 Words  | 3 Pages

    The teaching of Descartes has influenced many minds since his writings. Descartes' belief that clear and distinct perceptions come from the intellect and not the senses was critical to his ultimate goal in Meditations on First Philosophy, for now he has successfully created a foundation of true and certain facts on which to base a sold, scientific belief structure. He has proven himself to exist in some form, to think and therefore feel, and explains how he knows objects or concepts to be real.

    Read More

  • The Importance of Characters in a Story

    554 Words  | 2 Pages

    load the spoon up and then run the stuff in and out of her mouth,

    Read More

More about Rene Descartes's View on God

Open Document