Rene Descartes's Argument For The Existence Of God
Within the “fifth meditation, philosopher Rene Descartes argues for the existence of god. He provides reasoning to support this argument, that only things that can be conceived clearly and distinctly have the power to conceive one completely. Since Descartes has a clear and distinct idea of a perfect being, and a perfect being cannot lack existence, he argues existence is necessary for god. Therefore, god must exist.
He begins his argument by examining weather or not we know anything certain about material objects. More specifically, if material objects truly exist outside of his mind. To answer this, he begins by considering the concepts of the objects within his thoughts and determining which of the concepts are distinct and which of them are confused. These concepts consist of firstly …show more content…
He also argues the thoughts cannot simply be figments of imagination, even though it may be in his power to think of them or not, as they have their own true and unchangeable nature. He explains this idea further by giving an example of imagining a triangle. He argues that although there may not be such a geometrical figure and never has been in the world outside of his thought, the figure still exists. His reasoning behind this is that the figure cannot help having a certain nature, form, or essence which is unalterable and is in fact eternal. As well, He argues that it is evident he could not have simply invented the figure, that evidence being the properties of the triangle. Firstly, a triangle consists of three angles which are equal to two right angles, and secondly that the greatest angle is opposite from the longest side. Ultimately, Descartes argues that this evidence shows that it cannot be said that he has imagined or invented the triangle, although it exists as an idea in his mind. In relation to Descartes values, due to the fact he clearly and distinctly perceives all properties of the triangle, than he argues it must in fact have all the properties
He begins his argument by examining weather or not we know anything certain about material objects. More specifically, if material objects truly exist outside of his mind. To answer this, he begins by considering the concepts of the objects within his thoughts and determining which of the concepts are distinct and which of them are confused. These concepts consist of firstly …show more content…
He also argues the thoughts cannot simply be figments of imagination, even though it may be in his power to think of them or not, as they have their own true and unchangeable nature. He explains this idea further by giving an example of imagining a triangle. He argues that although there may not be such a geometrical figure and never has been in the world outside of his thought, the figure still exists. His reasoning behind this is that the figure cannot help having a certain nature, form, or essence which is unalterable and is in fact eternal. As well, He argues that it is evident he could not have simply invented the figure, that evidence being the properties of the triangle. Firstly, a triangle consists of three angles which are equal to two right angles, and secondly that the greatest angle is opposite from the longest side. Ultimately, Descartes argues that this evidence shows that it cannot be said that he has imagined or invented the triangle, although it exists as an idea in his mind. In relation to Descartes values, due to the fact he clearly and distinctly perceives all properties of the triangle, than he argues it must in fact have all the properties