Descartes and Skepticism

Descartes and the problem of skepticism Question In speculation III, Descartes argues that his thinker of graven image could not perk up lessen from him, and so divinity must exist. How does this argument go? Overview Rene Descartes was a great scientist, mathematician and philosopher. He was know for his extensive work on skepticism, and in particular a constitution c onlyed suppositions on First Philosophy (written in 1641) which is still wide utilize by modern philosophers. In this publication, Descartes aim was to demonstrate that a persons reason is eternal and that God exists.He apologizes in guess One that it is practicable to question the existence of all things in Meditation two he goes on to give details regarding the existence of the sense and the soul. In the three Meditation he gives arguments of proof of Gods existence and in Meditation quartette he explains the difference between truth and error. In the Fifth Meditation Descartes provides further argum ents to prove the existence of God and in the Sixth and last meditation he brings it all together as he demonstrates how friendship of the mind can be guided by God and therefore validates the knowledge we have of physical world. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, 2010). This essay will explain Descartes argument of the existence of God with specific reference to the Third Meditation discussed in the class handout- Descartes and the problem of Skepticism. Meditation ?- Gods Existence In the Third Meditation, subtitled On Gods existence, Descartes is reliable that he is a thinking thing (pg 142) and sets out to prove Gods Existence. There were two major standpoints noted in his argument, though they were found to be closely linked.Firstly, he tackles the inclination that his induce existence and thoughts must have come from somewhere or something. He goes on to explain that the thought he has of God is one of an eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, creator of all things (pg 143). As a result, Descartes argues that the belief of God must therefore be far more complex than his mind alone can perceive- since his intellect of God is that of an infinite, spotless being and Descartes himself is a finite being lack enough formal reality to create such an idea on his experience will.Put simply, Descartes believes that the idea of God could not have been created in his own limited mind and he establishes that God must be the originator of his thoughts and therefore God exists. Secondly, Descartes battles with the idea that his existence must have a cause. He discusses the various possibilities that expertness have caused his existence including that he might have created himself he might have always existed his parents created him that he was created by something less benevolent and perfect than God and lastly, that it was God who created him.Descartes takes on an elimination process to figure out which one of these possibilities are likely true. He discusses that he could not have created himself because as he says I would have given myself every perfection (pg 146). Next he dismisses the idea that he always existed simply because as he describes that he is a dependent being that needs to be continually sustained by another. Descartes establishes that the idea of his parents being his creator only reintroduces the same problem regarding their own existence.He then thought of the possibility of a less than perfect God being his creator- but he argues that the idea of perfection that exists in his mind could not have originated from a non-perfect being. With this established, Descartes concludes that there must be a perfect God who is the cause of his existence and his perfect idea of God. In analysis of Descartes position, the observation is made that the basis of his argument is causative cerebrate. This is shown when he suggests that there must be a cause of the idea of a perfect God and that this perfect idea must come fr om God himself.In my own reflection, I thought that living a predominantly Christian society might be the cause of my own idea of God. I have learnt all that I know roughly God from my parents and by extension the society. It therefore follows, that my parents idea of God might have come from their parents to a fault, whose idea somewhere along the line came from the church- which is also made up of men who has parents. Descartes argument supports that at the end of this causal chain, there has to be a first cause, which is God. Since there is no condition of evidence proving or disproving the existence of God, the belief in his existence is widely ccepted today, and the search for such a proof would always be a highly debatable and controversial topic. While there is still variant over Descartes argument as to whether or not God exists, it is slackly agreed that Gods existence cannot be proved through the capacity of the mind and therefore we rely on such concepts as skepticism and reasoning to guide what we choose to believe of God. References * Smith, K. (2010, September 20). Descartes life and works. Retrieved October 11, 2011from http//plato. stanford. edu/entries/descartes-works * Class Handout- Descartes and The conundrum of Skepticism