Descartes Proof Of God's Existence Essay

640 Words3 Pages
In Descartes’ first proof of God’s existence, he questions his own existence and whether or not there is a God. If there is, is he a deceiver or is he only good? He begins by questioning his own existence. Cogito, ergo sum, also known as “I think, therefore I am”, is a well-known quotation from his Discourse on the Method. Obviously, he exists, and so does his ability to think. Where would this come from if not from God? In Meditation III:22-23 he states, “For though the idea of substance be in my mind owing to this, that I myself am a substance, seeing I am a finite being, unless were given to me by some substance in reality infinite.” His ontological argument is that because the idea of God exists, this proves God’s existence. In order to have the idea of God, the idea must have come from somewhere. Since we as humans are imperfect beings, we cannot be the cause of the idea of a perfect being. This idea of a perfect being had to be put there by God.…show more content…
He struggles with the idea that God could be an “evil genius” and a deceiver. However, in Meditation IV, Descartes comes to the conclusion that if God is a perfect being and he exists, he would not deceive. How does this explain deceptions that have happened in his life? Descartes’ explanation is that God gave him the sense to understand but also free will to choose to believe. Essentially, we choose what we want to believe and this is how errors are made, not because God himself is a deceiver but through our own ignorance. We have the ability to come to our own conclusions, and also to believe things that we don’t know with absolute certainty to be true. In Meditation V, Descartes argues that existence is perfection, therefore it is divine in nature. Now that he knows God exists, he also knows that he and the world around him exists because God gave him the senses to deduce these
Show More
Related

  • Rene Descartes Meditations

    1649 Words  | 7 Pages

    Proof of God’s Existence in Rene Descartes Meditation. The concept of truth and the existence of God has been a topic of speculation from the cultural and scientific perspective. This has been a controversial topic since the time antiquity as the issue of the relationship between truth and Gods existence in nature. According to Descartes, the concept of existence is far more complex and very inconceivable as we lack the potential to comprehend what is true (Taylor & Francis, 2005). Descartes move

    Read More

More about Descartes Proof Of God's Existence Essay

Open Document