Descartes
Does God truly exist? The inquiry concerning God's existence is one of the most fundamental and controversial questions in life. Whether or not there is such a thing as an almighty Supreme Being depends on personal belief. Today many people in the world do believe in a higher power, while others hold contrary opinions. Renee Descartes, a modern philosopher, held a firm opinion in favor of God's existence. To defend his argument, Descartes discusses his reasoning for believing in God in the "Third Meditation." I believe that Descartes argument in the "Third Meditation" for the existence of God supports and defends his beliefs. The "Third Meditation" is concise of two arguments. The first argument analyzes what can and cannot be doubted. Descartes first comes to the conclusion that he is a thinking thing. "I am a thing that thinks, that is to say, a thing that doubts, affirms, denies, understands a few things, is ignorant of many things, wills, refrains from willing, and also imagines and senses" (Descartes 24). He believes that he can only be assured when he acts on what is inside his mind because the senses can be deceiving. He then establishes clearness and distinctness as his principle for truth. "And thus I now s
Descartes presumes that ideas or images, emotions, and choices of the will are certain, whereas judgments are not. His concepts are difficult to grasp, but I think that if his writings are thoroughly studied and discussed they can be understood. He perceives that God must have created him to exist, and that he must rely on God for his continued existence. Acquired ideas come from the outside, and one creates produce ideas. Third, the idea of God could not have originated in Descartes because God is infinite and flawless, and Descartes is finite and imperfect. The only improvement I could see fit for the "Third Meditations" would be to organize it differently in order for it to be better understood. Overall, I think that the "Third Meditation" is about a man trying to prove the existence of God to maintain an idea of what he can trust and believe about life. Wax is understood by the mind, therefore substance is perceived by the mind. He goes on to distinguish between innate, acquired, and produced ideas. Finally, he concludes that because he has an idea of God, God could only have caused it. Next, Descartes defines objective reality as something that represents, and formal reality as a characteristic of things. In conclusion, I believe that if properly understood the "Third Meditation" provides useful insight into the field of philosophy. Unlike many skeptics, I do not find fault with Descartes writing of the "Third Meditation". According to Descartes, the mind is a thinking substance not extended in space; while the body is a non-thinking substance extended into space. Descartes claims that if the objectively reality of his ideas if to be so great that the same reality was not in him, either formally or eminently, then he cannot be the cause of the idea, and he is not alone because something else must exist to cause his ideas (Descartes 29).
Common topics in this essay:
Third Meditation,
According Descartes,
Third Meditations,
,
Renee Descartes,
Descartes God,
God God,
third meditation,
objective reality,
idea god,
ideas descartes,
mind senses,
substance extended,
extended space,
descartes 24,
descartes argument,
substance extended space,
existence god,
|
Acceptance Essays
