Descartes Meditation 3 Summary

The main topic of the Meditation Three discusses the concept of God and the proof of His existence. Descartes begins with the assertion that he is a 'thinking thing' and therefore, he exists. Next, he further questions the source of his thoughts and certainty of anything else, because there are things that he previously admitted as certain and evident that later discovered to be doubtful (P.70). Therefore, Descartes concluded he has to find out whether there is God and that He is not a deceiver, to remove the basis for his doubts (P.71). The aim of this paper is to discuss and object Descartes' arguments given in Meditation Three for the proof of God. The existence of God is a debatable issue. And Descartes' cosmological concept of God as infinite
Next, he organizes his thoughts into classes of ideas, emotions, and judgments, and after questions whether they are true or false. Regarding the ideas - these are images or pictures of we see or imagine, such as a sky, chimera, God, or an angel. Then there are volitions or emotions - when we affirm, deny, or fear something, and finally other thoughts and judgments (71). Next, Descartes questioned which one of these could be false or true. The ideas are not wrong when; "they are considered alone and in their own right, without being referred to something else" (71). For example, when we imagine an angel or a unicorn, it is true that we do have the imagination of it. Subsequently, emotions or volitions are also true because, when we desire something it is true that we want it. And as for judgments, they may be wrong, and the common error is made when we judge that
In relation to this, Descartes provides an example of the sun - it appears to us small, but this perception is wrong because if we apply astronomical reasoning we will know that the sun, in fact, is larger than the earth (p.73). Further, he organizes his ideas into three categories as; innate, adventitious, and others invented. Innate ideas derived from our nature, a priori knowledge. As for adventitious ideas Descartes refers to them as accidental and independent of his will, he explains it as follows: "… say I am now hearing a noise, or looking at the sun, or feeling the fire; up until now I judged that these things proceeded from certain things outside of me, and finally sirens, hippogriffs, and the like are made by me" (72). Therefore, adventitious ideas that come from the external world are independent of our will, like the heat from the fire or the sun. The invented ideas are formed by our will, like a unicorn, for instance, consists of a horse and a horn, and when the two