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Descartes Argument For The Existence Of God

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How do I exist? In my opinion, this is one of the most significant arguments that Descartes puts forward in his Meditations. How can he, or I, exist if there were no God? It is clear that by the time Descartes comes to write the Third Meditation, he is certain that he, Descartes, exists – but the underlying question is, how? God plays an important part in this (Cogito) argument (Stanford, 2014) because he rules out himself (Descartes, 1998, Page 38). Descartes suggests that if he created himself, then he would be of infinite power, and that he would have been created perfect. Yet he makes clear that he is of finite power and therefore cannot have created himself, and subsequently is not perfect (Descartes, 1998, Page 38). It is also not unreasonable to argue that most, if not all beings, are to a certain extent, dependent on others for their existence and survival. Descartes further goes on to disprove parents. The argument of God in existence is strengthened here – in a long cycle, who created his parents’ parents, and their parents’ parents, and so on? The theme is – who began their existence, and then, who maintained it? This leads to one ultimate answer for Descartes – God. For him, humanity must have been created by God, the foundation of what exists. The …show more content…

One must presume that if we strive to learn new information, then we would always strive for the truth. This is where I believe he has one of his strongest arguments. The existence of God can therefore lead to more knowledge – from this theory, I see God as a fundamental foundation for knowledge and how we all gain it. I strongly believe that Descartes is entitled to use God’s existence in this way. It is apparent to me that we cannot have full knowledge, or at least unimpeded access to knowledge, if God did not

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