Rene Descartes Argument For The Existence Of God
Cleo Polyzou
Cogito Ergo Sum
The aim of this paper is to explain a central argument from Rene Descartes’ Meditations of Philosophy that encapsulates his views towards the existence of worldly things and to consider the strength and the significance of the idea within that argument. I think therefore I am, is the argument that will be discussed and analyzed in this paper.
In the beginning of the first meditation, the meditator appeared skeptical of his beliefs and explained that since his beliefs have deceived him in the past, he called them into doubt. During the second meditation, the meditator has invalidated all of his beliefs about nature and human existence and only accepts that everything he can see is false (“therefore I suppose that everything I see is false. I believe that none of what my deceitful memory represents ever existed”). The meditator’s ability to think and doubt something proves that he must exist. He cannot exist if he does not think. He only exists as long as he is thinking. He is only a thing that thinks. The meditator states that “whatever thinks, exists. I think therefore I exist”. Even if an evil demon has been deceiving him (“an evil genius supremely powerful and clever, who has directed his entire effort at deceiving me”) or even if his beliefs are wrong he cannot doubt that he thinks. The meditator’s argument is a valid sound and cannot be argued. The only thing the meditator knows is certainly true is that he exists because he thinks. Every person that is able to think and doubt any given question does exist. The premises of the argument (whatever thinks exists and I think) follow the conclusion (therefore I …show more content…
The meditator raised a very important point that cannot be questioned or denied. The meditator’s ability to doubt something in the first place proves his own
Cogito Ergo Sum
The aim of this paper is to explain a central argument from Rene Descartes’ Meditations of Philosophy that encapsulates his views towards the existence of worldly things and to consider the strength and the significance of the idea within that argument. I think therefore I am, is the argument that will be discussed and analyzed in this paper.
In the beginning of the first meditation, the meditator appeared skeptical of his beliefs and explained that since his beliefs have deceived him in the past, he called them into doubt. During the second meditation, the meditator has invalidated all of his beliefs about nature and human existence and only accepts that everything he can see is false (“therefore I suppose that everything I see is false. I believe that none of what my deceitful memory represents ever existed”). The meditator’s ability to think and doubt something proves that he must exist. He cannot exist if he does not think. He only exists as long as he is thinking. He is only a thing that thinks. The meditator states that “whatever thinks, exists. I think therefore I exist”. Even if an evil demon has been deceiving him (“an evil genius supremely powerful and clever, who has directed his entire effort at deceiving me”) or even if his beliefs are wrong he cannot doubt that he thinks. The meditator’s argument is a valid sound and cannot be argued. The only thing the meditator knows is certainly true is that he exists because he thinks. Every person that is able to think and doubt any given question does exist. The premises of the argument (whatever thinks exists and I think) follow the conclusion (therefore I …show more content…
The meditator raised a very important point that cannot be questioned or denied. The meditator’s ability to doubt something in the first place proves his own