Descartes

Descartes Upon cursory examination, one might assume that Rene Descartes is a “non-believer” in the existence of a heavenly being, a God that presides over humans and gives us faith. However, this is simply not the case – Descartes is simply trying to destroy all of the uncertainties that have come about by the attempted scientific explanations of such a supreme being. For Rene Descartes and all of the other believers in the world, the existence of God provides a convenient answer to unexplained questions, while never providing answers to the questions about God himself. This is evidenced a great deal in the circular argument made by Descartes in the Meditations on First Philosophy. What follows is a brief account of the third and fifth meditations, which provide Descartes’ response to the masked question, “What is God'” Can one perceive or confirm the existence of an idea that is external to him, an idea such as God' In order to determine the answer we must start by understanding the ways in which we can conclude an objects’ existence. Descartes explains three ways in which a person might come to such a conclusion – the first, through nature; the second, through feeling god, existence, idea, descartes, being, own, reality, one, must, exist, ideas, argument, about, through, it’s, infinite, independent, however, himself, first, faith, cause, within, though, third, proof, objective, never, mind, fact, descartes’, definition, come, clearly, circular