In Discourse on Method by René Descartes, the author starts by expressing his methodology and thought process in the effort to determine his own existence. While the topic of this piece starts by focusing on Descartes and the truth he was searching for about his existence, it quickly turns to the topic of the truth or existence of something more perfect than himself. That more perfect example being God.…
Rene Descartes lived from 1596 to 1650. He was born in France, and went to a Jesuit primary school. He earned a law degree, but later on he began focusing on math and logic in the world. During the early 17th century, his ideas deviated more and more from previous philosophers. Because of this, he became known as “The Father of Modern Philosophy.” While some of his ideas weren’t completely original, his way of getting to them was. He believed in totally ignoring everything previous philosophers had done, and starting new, as if their work had never happened. He did not even trust his own emotions. He also believed that consciousness was the only truth in the world, leading to his most famous statement, “I think; therefore I am.” He also published several books, and despite his late entrance in the subject, and early death, he is still one of the most…
Throughout history, there have been many individuals deserving of praise and admiration. These individuals were all admirable in their own regard. One of the most significant of these individuals was Rene Descartes. Rene Descartes was an admirable individual due to his contributions to philosophy, his remarkable findings in mathematics, and his explanations of the physical world that are still relevant today. Descartes came up with the philosophical arguments of Cartesian doubt, the Mind-Body problem, and Cartesian certainty. In regards to Mathematics, Descartes discovered numerous principles and theorems that paved the way for future discoveries in mathematics. His most notable findings included Cartesian Coordinates, Cartesian Geometry, and "Discourse on Method". In addition to this, Descartes had numerous explanations of the physical world. His most prominent explanations are the first modern formulation of laws of nature, theory of planetary motion, and the study of reflection and refraction of light.…
St.Thomas Aquinas believed that existence of god could be proven. In his Summa Theologiae Aquinas put forward five proofs (or five ways) for the existence of God:First Way – Argument from Motion Second Way – Causation of Existence Third Way – Contingent and Necessary Objects Fourth Way – The Argument from Degrees and Perfection Fifth Way – The Argument from Intelligent Design.…
Why is God so important to Descartes’ philosophical project in the Meditations? Answer with reference to Descartes’ attempts to prove the existence of God in Meditation 3.…
Anselm used the Ontological Argument to prove that God’s existence is necessary. The origins of this argument are found in Anselm’s writings, he began with a quotation from a Psalm “The fool says in his heart, ‘there is no God’…” and then reflected on the truthfulness of this. Anselm defined God as ‘that than which nothing greater can be conceived’ assuming you accept this a priori definition Anselm went on to state that anyone who denies God’s existence is a fool. He observed that it is greater to exist in reality than in the mind alone (you would prefer to have a real £20 note than an imaginary one). Someone who doubts God’s existence must have a concept of God in order for them to be able to reject it therefore if the concept of God is the greatest conceivable being then he must exist. He argued that existence was part of perfection, so if God is the greatest being (with all perfections) then it is necessary that he exists otherwise he cannot be the greatest conceivable being and that is not – to Anselm – the definition of God, the very fact that we can conceive of him as the greatest being proves, for Anselm, that he exists. For Anselm someone who denies God’s existence is essentially saying “God, who exists, does not exist”.…
Rene Descartes, a French philosopher attempted to craft groundwork to establish further scientific developments. He rationed that once one knows the foundations of a belief and one builds upon that, much of what one believes can be doubted. He held that through using math’s methods, he could apply these same methodologies to other ideas. Descartes believed that nothing can be perceived more easily and evidently than his own mind. By applying his theory, that he knew nothing for certain but was aware of his own thought, he started to combat already instituted ideas and conjured up the existence of…
. René Descartes was well known for his views on consciousness and works in the field of science and mathematics for his work on geometry and algebra. Descartes was born in 1596 in the town of la Haye in the south of France.…
Descartes talked about the essence of material things and prove that God exists again. Descartes said that it is obvious that whatever is true is something, and he have already demonstrated at some length that all that he know clearly is…
According to this principle, the reality of the cause must be greater than or equal to the reality of the effect. The idea of God has infinite reality and, by theory, the only cause of this infinite idea can only be God. With all this said, the reality of God is the only plausible cause to the reality of the idea of God. Descartes gives another proof in Meditation Five where he has reasoned that a triangle must have all the properties he assigns to it, because the triangle exists as an idea in his mind and he clearly and distinctly perceives all these properties. He then reasons, by analogy, that God exists as an idea in his mind and he clearly and distinctly perceives all of his qualities. One of these qualities is existence, so it follows from his clear and distinct perception that God must exist. If existence is the essence of God, then God would not be God if he did not exist, just as a triangle would not be a triangle if it were not three-sided. At the very least, then, the existence of God must be as certain as the properties of mathematical and geometrical objects since he can prove them in the same way. Having concluded that God must necessarily exist, Descartes goes further and then asks how he received the idea of God. He could have not invented the idea. Therefore, the idea must be innate which, according to Descartes, means that God must have created him…
Descartes conclusion on premise 6 about God’s existence argues that the clear and distinct perceptions provide the foundation or basis for the truth of our beliefs and that is so because God, who is not a deceiver would not allow Descartes to be mistaken about that which he clearlyl and distinctly perceives. His notion of clear and distinct perceptions and their truth requires God’s existence.…
First: Analyze and evaluate the two proofs of God's existence. How are they different? Is one more convincing than the other? Why did Descartes think he needed two proofs? Do they do different work for him? And secondly: Does Descartes give a satisfactory account of human error, given a perfect and divine creator? Are Descartes' arguments convincing, or does it still seem unnecessary and less than perfect that God created us with flaws?…
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…
Micaela Ceraso PHIL 101 Professor Papa December 9th 2014 Topic 3: The Certainty that God Is After reading the two paragraphs written by scholars I have come to three different conclusions. The author of the first argument claims that God does in fact exist and he is also infinite. The author of the second argument claims that humans are not capable of comprehending the idea of infinite, therefore we cannot argue that God is infinite or that he exists at all. Finally, Descartes claims that by The Method of Doubt, God is the one idea that cannot be doubted. Therefore, the disputed question in these three arguments is the existence of God and the idea of infinite.…
Descartes argument for the existence of God is based on two main principles. This is the principle of sufficient reasoning and the principle of adequate reality. The principle of sufficient reasoning means that everything has a cause. The principle of adequate reality is followed by sufficient reasoning and means that there must be at least as much reality in the cause as the effect.…