Essay on Mediations of First Philosophy by Descartes

Mediations of First Philosophy by Descartes In the â€Å"Mediations of First Philosophy† Descartes tries to prove the existence of God in the third meditation. He does this by coming up with several premises that eventually add up to a solid argument. First, I will explain why Descartes ask the question, does god exist? And why does Descartes think he needs such and argument at this point in the text. Secondly, I will explain, in detail, the arguments that Descartes makes and how he comes to the conclusion that God does exist. Next, I will debate some of Descartes premises that make his argument an unsound one, including circular reasoning. Finally, I will see if his unsound argument has diminished and undermined his principal goals and the†¦show more content†¦Descartes gives an example of a stone, stating that the stone can’t be made by anything that doesn’t contain everything found in a stone. Basically the premise is based on a more general one that, it is not possible for something to come fr om nothing. Descartes then applies the Causal Adequacy Principal to ideas. Descartes claims that just in the case of how objects must contain at least as much reality as what created it ,then the cause of an idea must contain at least as much reality as the idea itself. So if an idea I represents some object O as having property P then the cause of I must have as much F as O is represented as having. Descartes puts these premises together and arrives at the fact that God exists in the following way. Since my idea of God represents God has being infinite and perfect whatever causes this idea must be infinite and perfect as well. Descartes then realizes that he cannot be the cause of his idea, of God, because he is not perfect or infinite. The definition of God as being â€Å"the perfect being† shows that the only thing that can cause this idea of the perfect being is God himself. Therefore a being that is perfect and infinite exists. Since an infinite perfect being exist God m ust exist. Descartes has arrived at a conclusion and has proved his argument. There were a few smaller argument that Descartes offers throughout the third meditation. One of them suggest that it is not possible to exist without the existenceShow MoreRelatedMeditations On First Philosophy By Rene Descartes Essay839 Words   |  4 PagesPrà ©ciso of Meditations on First Philosophy Through his series of books, Meditations on First Philosophy, Renà © Descartes enlightens his philosophical ideas about knowledge in which we should discard all belief we aren’t absolute certain about and establishes what we know for sure. In the introduction he clarifying the main ideas of each of the 6 books and using to them build up to his belief. Starting with the First Meditations, he discusses about doubt. 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