Rene Descartes Essay

Rene Descartes is one of the most influential thinkers in the history of modern Western philosophy. Not only did he get signifi idlertly in the bea of mathematics and physics, simply he excessively created a systematic salute to philosophy that is still followed today. During his time, he rejected a great deal of the Aristotelian traditions of the medieval age and took philosophy in a new direction, attempting to integrate it with the sciences that were just line to come into their own. He alike contributed to the theological discussion by studying the nature of paragon cosmogenicly and ontologic eithery in his work Meditations.When one first reads Meditations on the First Philosophy In Which the Existence of graven image and the Distinction Between Mind and Body are Demonstrated by Descartes, be aware of his reputation for being the buzz off of Modern Philosophy, and his cl come in to have arrived at a method of gaining intimacy about the world which had the same kind of certainty as noesis of mathematics, they may be initially disap maneuvered because of his refusal to completely abandon spiritual idea in favor of military manist ideology.In the Preface to Meditations Descartes states his aim is to explain the nature of the valet soul and register the globe of divinity fudge. To demonstrate the latter, Descartes presents multiple inductions of Gods instauration, the cosmological and the ontological contrasts. Descartes cosmological none as to the instauration of God first comes to light in the third base commence of Meditations and begins and ends with the existence of God as the initial cause of everything, including human reason capable of bringing close togethertion of different authenticities.Following his maxim Cogito ergo sum, which translates into I think, therefore I am, Descartes begins with himself as existing, with existence perfective tense, and his existence caused by something. harmonize to Descartes In order th at an composition may contain this documental veracity rather than that, it essential doubtless derive it from some cause in which is found at least as much formal man as the idea contains of objective for, if we suppose that there is found in an idea any(prenominal)thing which was not in its cause, it must of course derive this from aught (Med.III, par. 14).Though Descartes disregard know himself, and he raft know of ideal, take down believing himself to be perfect, he is not perfect and could not be the cause of himself. To him, only God as a perfect being can truly possess innumerous knowledge of nonsuch. As he states Although my knowledge increment much and more(prenominal) than than, nevertheless I am not, therefore, induce to think that it will ever be actually infinite, since it can never reach that point beyond which it shall be incapable of further increase (Med. III, par. 27).As his knowledge of perfection is limited, and God is perfect, his idea that God is perfect is only possible if God preceded the idea and made it possible. Descartes follows causation from his existence back through the reasons for it, from his parents, to their parents, and so on, finally concluding that at the beginning there must be God, as only nothing can come from nothing. fleck Descartes cosmological produce that God exists relies on condition for its foundation, in deviate five of Meditations he also provides ontological proof to back it up.Descartes ontological contrast takes a markedly different approach than his cosmological proof of Gods existence. Descartes ontological argument begins with his idea of God as being a perfect being of infinite substance as put forth in the third part of Meditations the idea by which I opine a God sovereign, eternal, infinite, immutable, all-knowing, all-powerful, and the antecedent of all things that are out of himself, this, I say, has certainly in it more objective authoritativeity than those ideas by which finite substances are represented (Med.III, par. 13). To Descartes, objective reality is more perfect than ideas about reality, and because his idea of God is that He is a perfect being that nothing more perfect can possibly be imagined, he must be more real than any of his nonexistent thoughts.In essence, Descartes logical argument for his ontological proof of Gods existence is that he can experience the idea of God as a the most perfect being, existence is part of Gods essence and His existence is more perfect than human thoughts about it, so therefore God exists in reality as the most perfect being because I cannot conceive God unless as existing, it follows that existence is inseparable from him, and therefore that he really existsthe necessity of the existence of God, determines me to think in this way for it is not in my power to conceive a God without existence, that is, a being supremely perfect, and yet gratuitous of an absolute perfection (Med. V, par. 10). As the essenc e of Descartes idea of God is existence, much as having three sides is the essence of a triangle, God exists.While Descartes presupposes the perfection of existence and the idea that God is the most perfect being, his ontological argument fails to provide the sound reasoning as his cosmological one and speaks more of his Catholic assumptions than his intellectual emphasis on reason. Descartes arguments for the existence of God are born from equal parts philosophy and religion. While this could largely be explained by Descartes Catholicism, it might be equal parts of his realization that any potential thought that contradicted the Church would be met with punishment. The Mediations were issueed just a few years after Galileo was accused of heresy during the Inquisition for support the Copernican view of the solar system, in which the earth revolved about the sun, rather than the Ptolemaic view, in which the sun moves around the earth.Descartes even makes reference point to his trea tise on natural sciences in Part 5 of the Discourse, but in Part 6 specifically says he decided not publish it because of the condemnation of Galileo. With emphasis on proving the existence of God, Descartes assured himself protection from such(prenominal) persecution im represent on Galileo and other scientists and philosophers considered heretical, but also presented two arguments for it of vary questionability. The cosmological argument put forth by Descartes has distant more credibility philosophically than his ontological argument. While a Catholic philosopher nerve-wracking to prove the existence of God, it is impossible to expect atheistic indifference concerning the subject, but the ontological proof requires far more faith than the cosmological argument, which relies more on reason.The cosmological argument, rather than presupposing the perfection of existence and therefore the perfection of God as a perfect being that exists, questions the causality that brought Descart es to the point of even being able to question the existence of God in the first place. Through reason, he is able to deduce that there must be a cause for his thought, his life, his parents, the world, and all of existence, and seeks to trace the origins back to the beginning. While scientists and philosophers today would trace it back to the big bang or a cyclical theory of existence, Descartes only had knowledge of God to explain the origins of existence.The cosmological argument is one that had origins long before Descartes and continued to be posed long after him. Descartes ontological argument is far less win over than his cosmological argument. He asks that too many presuppositions be made to disengage behaveing the existence of God. Instead of following with a line of thought that establishes human reason as the unshakable foundation of existence, Descartes asserts that a undecomposed God could not possibly deceive, and that therefore humans could confidently accept all the perceptions which the method of doubt had just led humans, including Descartes, to challenge. This begs the question that if the arguments for the existence of God are not valid, than will the whole system expose?It also asks that existence be considered perfect, though provides little justification for this claim, date contradictorily offering gradations of perfection as a thing in itself. The cosmological question that examines the causality of existence and leads to the proof of God is far more convincing than the ontological argument that lacks its scientific and philosophical reasoning. For Descartes, God is the justification for accepting the evidence of human senses. But in implement very few people ever doubt the evidence of their senses. tear down though reality can be warped by senses, which can often mislead, it is only discovered when reflecting on other evidence from the senses.By using his reason to argue for the existence of God, Descartes showed that faith ne eded not be the only tool used in the matter. His cosmological argument is far stronger than his ontological one, for the universe and everything in it must have started somehow, whether God or a prime mover. The ontological argument that proves the existence of God merely because humans can conceive of Him is not as strong, because the impressiveness of imagination can create countless things that are not real outside of the mind. Even in recent years, as scientific discovery uncovers the Big Bang billions of years ago, Descartes cosmological argument still holds up, as God may have been the initial cause for the bang and all that followed.