Descartes' Proof of the Existence of God in Meditation Three Essay

Humans are finite substances so they cannot come up with the ideas of infinite substances unless it were given to them by an infinite substance. Descartes continues that while we advance gradually each day these attributes could never exist within us because we are only potentially perfect whereas God is actually perfect. Furthermore, Descartes argues that only God could be the author of his being because if it were he or his parent’s other finite substances that authored his being then he would not have wants or doubts because he would have bestowed upon himself every perfection imaginable to a finite being. Therefore, God exists because Descartes could not have thought of God because he is a finite substance thus the idea of God must have come from an infinite substance.

In Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, Descartes is seeking to find a system of stable, lasting and certain knowledge, which he can ultimately regard as the Truth. In his methodical quest to carry out his task, Descartes eventually arrives at the proverbial fork in the road: how to bridge the knowledge of self with that of the rest of the world. Descartes’ answer to this is to prove the existence of God. The purpose of this essay will be to state and explain Descartes' Third Meditation: Proof of God's Existence by identifying relevant concepts and terminology and their relationship to each other and examining each premise as well as the conclusion of the proof and finally

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.

There has been many thinkers in history who have lacked a belief in God. Some ancient Greek philosophers, such as Epicurus, obtained natural explanations for these superior miracles. Epicurus was the first to question the compatibility of God with suffering. In contrast, Descartes proves God 's existence as an external reality and that ideas of perfection or infinity cannot come from oneself. He explains that “I am a finite being and thus cannot generate these ideas on my own. I have also never experienced perfection or infinity in the world, so they cannot come from experience, either”. God is a “perfect being”.

Descartes says that examining this idea leads to the realization of the existence of God. His argument initially encompasses the acknowledgement of such an idea. The idea of God is a being that is omnipotent and infinite, as well as the creator of all things. Descartes then moves onto the Casual Adequacy Principle. This principle infers an object must have as its cause something that has the same (or more) attributes as the object.

After giving his first proof for the existence of God Descartes concludes by mentioning that this proof is not always self-evident. When he is absorbed in the world of sensory illusions it is not quite obvious to him that God’s existence can be derived from the idea of God. So to further cement God’s existence Descartes begins his second proof by posing the question of whether he could exist (a thinking thing that possesses the idea of an infinite and perfect god) if God itself did not exist.

Descartes’s attempt to prove the existence of God begins with the argument that he has the clear and distinct idea of God as the “most perfect being and that there must be at least as much reality in the efficient and total cause in the effect of that cause” (40). Therefore, this idea of God can’t be from himself, but its cause must be God. So God exists. In what follows I’ll explain these terms and why the premises seemed true to him.

Descartes knows he exists, so there must be a cause for his existence, and God is that cause. His third argument resembles the ontological argument, and is based on the definition of God. He theorizes that God is perfect, and nothing that is perfect does not exist. Therefore, God must exist because God not existing would be a logical contradiction. Descartes believes we have several good reasons to believe in God.

In a quote previously shown, Descartes claims that his idea of a perfect being comes from God. Descartes also believes that the idea

The existence of God has always been an arguable topic. Descartes’ however, believed that he had proof of God’s existence through an intense analysis of the mind. Throughout this paper I will discuss what he has provided as proof and some of the complications that arise throughout his argument.

Descartes’ attempts to prove the existence of God are arguably very flawed and they are more so in a modern, post-Darwin era where the watchmaker analogy has generally been reversed in its use. What is interesting though is Descartes’ position on God in Part V of Discours sur la méthode. He suggests that in another, imaginary world, God would not need to exist and this imaginary world could be exactly the same as ours with its creation and continuation being dictated by laws of nature born of chaos rather than the influence of a Supreme Being. It would appear then as though Descartes’ view on God is that he is not necessary but he is certain, based on his adherence to the Bible, Genesis in particular, and his own reasoning.

His belief in God even affected his theories on reality. One of his theories was that he was being deceived by a conniving and mischievous demon that was hell-bent on distorting his reality. The demon could be comparable to the evil dictator and the memory replacing machine in Total Recall. Despite the evil demon, Descartes did manage to reveal one very true thing and that is that he must exist if he truly is being deceived by the evil demon because he needs to exist in order to be deceived. He later summarizes this into his famous phrase “I think, therefore, I am.”(Descartes 136).

Within his work, Descartes presents the causal argument, in which he demonstrates the idea that God must exist because everything with an affect must have a cause . This is one approach that Descartes uses to show the proof of God. By the end of meditation two, following onto meditation three Descartes concludes that we as humans are considered as a ‘res cognitas’ in which we are recognised as a thinking thing. However due to humans being known as the ‘res cognitas’ that means God is the ‘perfect being’. Descartes uses this to prove the existence of God, because it takes his view that anything with an effect must have a cause, in terms that we as humans are the affect concluding that God is the cause. The argument entitles that God is

In the same Meditation, Descartes raises the idea of the existence of human beings. Their existence derived from a infinite substance, which is God. God is the only source for which humans exist, and would not without Him. This is a metaphysical idea that he believes, but others may not. In other disciplines, such as natural science, may say otherwise in regards to the source of existence. Human evolutionary disciplines have actual data from early times, further rendering and coming closer to the actual truth to where humans actually came from. God as a source is merely always an idea, and never an actual data.

To continue with the defense on the existence of God Descartes mentions that he is