René Descartes Meditations On First Philosophy

René Descartes was a very renowned French philosopher and mathematician. One of his most famous works is his book Meditations on First Philosophy. In this book Descartes asks and answers one simple question; does God exist? As one reads through Descartes meditations, they are presented with multiple proofs as Descartes attempts to prove that god exists. One of the premises of Descartes’ proofs is that “there must be as much formal reality in the cause of an idea as there is objective reality in the idea itself”. Through meditations 1, 2, and 3, Descartes not only explains what this proof means and why he believes it, but he also uses this proof to prove the existence of God. Descartes has proved the existence of God because of his proofs that
Descartes then theorizes that God is perfect and would not deceive mankind. However, there is also the theory that God does not exist. Both theories lead to Descartes coming to two conclusions. The first conclusion is that if God would not deceive us then he would not allow us to be deceived at all because we are made in his image. The second conclusion is that if God does not exist then that means that we must assume that we are created of a being less and imperfect than God which leads us to further doubt the truths that we have come to accept. Descartes concludes that God must exist and states that if there is a deceiver and Descartes is susceptible to being deceived then Descartes must exist. This conclusion leads to Descartes claiming that he is a thinking thing, and his existence cannot come from deception due to the fact that he can think and perceive external
Descartes takes a solid piece of wax and describes its properties as they pertain to the senses. Descartes claims that the wax is solid, easy to handle, and makes a noise when you hit it. However, as Descartes places the wax near the fire his perception of the wax changes. The wax becomes a warm liquid, difficult to handle, and silent when hit. This experience allows Descartes to understand that we as human beings are thinking things and understand intellect through the mind and not the senses. Thus making the mind more important in understanding than the body. This epiphany not only strengthens Descartes’ questioning of how humans perceive reality and are deceived, but it also proves that there must be formal reality in the cause of an idea as there is objective reality in the idea itself. Upon Descartes understanding that he can only be certain that he exists as a thinking-thing and nothing else, Descartes moves on to his third meditation where he attempts to prove the existence of God. Descartes states that there must be as much reality in the cause of the idea as there is in the effect. Therefore, Descartes states that in order for beings of limitation to exist then a being of perfection must exist. Furthermore, Descartes states that limited beings must stem from a being of greater perfection. Descartes proves God exists by stating that