Rene Descartes Arguments For The Existence Of God

There has not been a subject more hotly contested in human history than the existence of God. As modern scientific thinking continues to develop the discussion surrounding God’s existence has only intensified. In fact, as religion and science begin to come into conflict more frequently and people find it harder to have faith the debate has often boiled over. Personally, I do believe in a God, but I see Him a little differently than the traditional Biblical portrayal of God. One of the biggest reasons I choose to believe in God is the feeling of comfort that I am provided with from the belief that He is watching over me. Additionally, I choose to believe that God exists because believing that He is always going to be with me is reassuring as
Descartes believed that God must exist because God alone could conceive of the idea of infinite goodness. He briefly considered the idea that God might be an evil genius or a deceiver, but he concluded that this was not the case. His idea of God is like Anselm’s in that he believes that God is a perfect and infinite being. Additionally, Descartes uses some ideas in his arguments which are like those of Aquinas regarding the casual principles of the arguments. The first way Descartes attempts to proves God’s existence is by starting with the idea that God is a perfect being. He follows this by claiming that existing is more perfect than not existing, thus God must exist. He begins his second argument for God’s existence by saying that it is an innate idea which everybody has that God is an infinite being. Next, Descartes claims that because we think of God as a being that is infinite God has infinite reality. He continues by saying that something cannot come from nothing, and that something cannot come from a thing that has less reality than itself. Descartes concludes by reasoning that because only God has infinite reality God alone could have been the cause of the idea of an infinite and perfect being, therefore God exists. My arguments for God’s existence have some similarities to Descartes’ arguments, as well as some key differences. My beliefs are like Descartes’ arguments in that I believe that God is an infinite being, and that I think that the idea of God came from somewhere other than my own mind. Also, I agree with Descartes’ conclusion that God is not an evil genius nor a deceiver. However, my arguments also differ from Descartes’ in several areas including the idea that existing is more perfect than not existing, and the claim that the idea that God is an infinite being is innate. Additionally, I disagree with Descartes’ idea that a thing cannot come