The idea of God is intense, as both of these analyses have shown. Aquinas’ idea of God is “Ipsum esse subsistens,” or Subsistent Act of Existing Itself (Magee, 2015). To speak of God as a self-subsistent being is to say He “Just Is.” He articulates every creature is “fundamentally composed of essence and existence.” In order for everything to exist, there must be a First Cause and Aquinas says God is that cause because without it, nothing exists. God is infinite simplicity and perfect. Aquinas and Tillich both see God as Being Itself (Fesser, 2011). Tillich places God “above God.” He writes, “God does not exist.” However, this is not in an attempt to deny God, but to demonstrate that God transcends everything.…
Aquinas' third way argument states that there has to be something that must exist, which is most likely God. He starts his argument by saying not everything must exist, because things are born and die every single day. By stating this we can jump to the conclusion that if everything need not exist then there would have been a time where there was nothing. But, he goes on, if there was a time when there was nothing, then nothing would exist even today, because something cannot come from nothing. However, our observations tell us that something does exist, therefore there is something that must exist, and Aquinas says that something is God.…
It is not obtained through sense perceptions. This is a reason that supports his claim that finite substances, such as the human mind, are not capable of creating such a omnipotent, omnibenevolent, infinite, omniscient God. He goes on to claim that the idea of God is innate, a concept that is present, or “imprinted”, in the human mind from birth. Descartes strongly believes that innate ideas are the necessary things that provide a reliable basis for all metaphysical knowledge. The idea of God is clearly and distinctly perceived. Descartes does admit, however, that he cannot grasp the thought of God’s existence, but that he merely understands it. Due to his conclusion that God ultimately exists, he is now able to trust the external world with…
The existence of God has an extreme influence on the majority of philosophical debate and questioning and no more so than with Descartes and his meditations. His meditations and his method of approaching philosophical questioning all derive from a rationalist ideology. Therefore he argues that all humans are thinking beings and have ideas prior to experience due to their intellectual existence and not of a sensual one. His meditations are primarily to dismiss Empiricism and to reveal that doubt is necessary to our life. Perhaps even to warn us of the dangers of our own deceitfulness and not to trust anything forced upon us by our perceptions. That is why God is so important to his meditations; as Descartes believes God is perfect and cannot be deceived and cannot fail us therefore in his trust we do not need to doubt.…
The essence of the main argument in the fourth Meditation of Descartes is to establish that there is a difference between God: his creator and himself, and how this difference does not taint the infinite abilities of God. Descartes commences his argument by first establishing his idea of being a thinking being. In his previous book, The Discourse on Method and Meditations on First Philosophy he sates,…
The fact that Descartes is even considering the mere question of his own existence just proves that he indeed exists and that is certain. Further, he argues that we are essentially thinking things (res cogitans) that can know our minds clearly and distinctly. Descartes pitches a tent for himself firmly in the rationalist camp, as opposed to the empiricist camp. He constantly emphasizes that the clear and distinct perceptions of the intellect are the only sure means of securing knowledge, and ultimately concludes that the senses are not designed to give us knowledge at all, but are rather meant to help us move through the world in a very practical…
Socrates once said, “As for me, all I know is that I know nothing.” Several philosophers contradicted Socrates’ outlook and believed that true knowledge was in fact attainable. This epistemological view however had several stances to it, as philosophers held different beliefs in regards to the derivation of true knowledge. Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of true knowledge, while in Empiricism, true knowledge derived from the senses. Rene Descartes, a rationalist, and John Locke, an empiricist, were prime examples of epistemologists who were seen to differentiate greatly within each of their philosophies. However, although Descartes and Locke’s ideas did contrast in that sense, they both shared common concepts that helped mould the basis of their ideas.…
"Give a detailed account of Descartes ' systematic doubt or methodical doubt in Meditation 1, making it certain that you distinguish between real doubts and so called hypothetical/metaphysical doubts. Then, explain in detail, exactly how Descartes dispels each and every one of these doubts during the course of the subsequent Meditations beginning with the cogito. Do you think that Descartes has been completely successful? Explain."The main goal of Descartes in Meditations on First Philosophy was to find truth behind all of his beliefs in order to build a solid foundation of certainty, and to focus his beliefs strictly on his idea of certainty; essentially to question knowledge. Descartes beliefs are mainly based on the theory that, if someone thinks that they really know something, they must be correct. Descartes meditations bring…
God is the next doubt that Descartes brings to attention. He says that he is constantly deceived and God must have created him to be subject to this occasional deception. This doubt is quickly dispersed however when Descartes reasons that God is good and therefore would not deceive him because that would be contrary to his goodness.…
1.) Thomas Aquinas believes that humans are born with a clean slate in a state of potency and acquire knowledge through sense experiences by abstraction of the phantasms. His view on how man acquires knowledge rejects Plato’s theory that humans are born with innate species. Along with Plato’s theory of humans understanding corporeal things through innate species, Aquinas also rejects Plato’s theory that in being born with innate species, humans spend their lives recollecting their knowledge.…
Although the concept of finite existence should be preceded with some substance that is definitely infinite, this mere substance is not enough to explain the infiniteness because I am positively finite and to my understanding of God, and that he is independent, infinite, having both supreme power and intelligence. Therefore, this is a show that he cannot be able to have the ability of thinking the way he does, if it is not a fact that he is either an infinite being or an infinite being supports his thinking capacity. Although the explanation is logical, several flaws in thinking can be analyzed from the reading and understanding. I do agree with most of Descartes’ reasoning of the existence, that’s why I will not only give further clarification, but also explain Descartes biggest flaw in his argument.…
From the beginning of the third meditation, Descartes seeks to establish the existence of God using his initial concept of self awareness. Descartes argued that because he thought, then he lived. Thinking ability at this time was linked to being alive and thought that there must be a god who puts the thoughts in his mind. In his quest for indubitable truth, Descartes came up with the theory of ideas, which classified those things that he considered distinct and clear to be true. Descartes argued that the idea of god should be coming from within him since he cannot experience god himself directly or find any perfection in himself.…
Descartes also states that this argument isn’t strong enough to prove that God exists. Because he has been constantly revising his believes he says that at this point he can easily tell the difference between essence and existence. After he points that out he explains that he believes that God could be separated from the existence but not from his essence. Then he contradicts himself saying that not existing would be prove of him not being perfect thus he had to exist. After that Descartes starts lacking of confidence that God exists. He thinks that he is giving some attributions, being perfect; to a creature that he doesn’t even know if exists. He thinks that he is just matching two things that he knows to make something new, something that…
He starts with the idea of a God who is eternal, infinite, and perfect. In the beginning of Meditations on First Philosophy, He explains that “we must believe that there is a God, because we are so taught in the Holy Scriptures, and, on the other hand, that we must believe the Holy Scriptures because they come from God “(Descartes 1). He then doubts himself if god does really exist. Through examining his thoughts, he ends up believing that the idea of God exists because of his innate idea of God which has to be God who “is the cause of this idea”(Descartes 25). Descartes then explains more in depth saying, “I have no choice but to conclude that the mere fact of my existing is and of there being in me an idea of a most perfect being, that is God, demonstrates most evidently that God too exists” (34). Another reason is how in his further mediations, he explains how if God does not exist, then he is not a supremely perfect being. Saying that God does not exist, we can imagine a being that is more perfect than God. But this is a contradiction because since the idea of God is the idea of the most perfect being of all. Therefore, God must exist because you cannot image a more perfect being than god, who he is the almighty and perfect of…
As Descartes continued to ponder his beliefs he began to examine his beliefs about God and whether those could be trusted or not. He had to question whether or not his beliefs could be relied upon or if God was actually deceiving him or if God is even a real thing. However, Descartes concludes that God does in fact exist and “God has never owed me anything, so I should thank him for his great generosity to me, rather than feeling cheated because he did not give me everything” Descartes also comes to the realization that God understands everything there could possibly be to know. As he continues in his mediations, he also states that even though God knows everything and we do not, we should not blame him for our flawed beliefs and the many misconceptions…