PHIL 101
Professor Papa
December 9th 2014
Topic 3: The Certainty that God Is
After reading the two paragraphs written by scholars I have come to three different conclusions. The author of the first argument claims that God does in fact exist and he is also infinite. The author of the second argument claims that humans are not capable of comprehending the idea of infinite, therefore we cannot argue that God is infinite or that he exists at all. Finally, Descartes claims that by The Method of Doubt, God is the one idea that cannot be doubted. Therefore, the disputed question in these three arguments is the existence of God and the idea of infinite.
Descartes and the first author both seem to dispute the argument made by the …show more content…
Cognito are unusually clear and distinct, therefore ideas may be considered objectively, as a mental representation of the fact that infinite beings really do exist. The thought of God is a subject that from the time of Descartes to now is constantly being disputed time and time again. Congito shows that even when such a big question, the existence of god, is unclear and not too distinct, that this only makes it more of a reason to believe it’s real. The connections among our ideas prove that there are truths only when they correspond to the way the world really is. But it is not obvious that our clear and distinct ideas do correspond with the reality of things, since we suppose that there may be an omnipotent being; God. In some measures, the reliability of our ideas may depend on the source from where they are derived from. Descartes states that there are only three places in which these ideas can come from. The ideas must enter the mind from the outside world, they must be manufactured in the mind itself, or God must have inscribed these ideas into our heads. Descartes concludes that the only possible reasoning would be that God has placed these ideas into our head. As proven earlier, the idea of God could not enter one’s mind though the outside world, on earth, there is no real proof that shows that God in fact …show more content…
If I have any idea of which I cannot be the cause, then something besides me must exist. He also states that all ideas of material reality could have their origin within me. But the idea of God, an infinite and perfect being, could not have originated from within me, since I am finite and imperfect. Lastly he states that I have an idea of God, and it can only have been caused by God. The purpose of this is, ultimately, to prove that the idea of God is present in his mind as an innate idea. Finally, having proved this, Descartes uses what has come to be called the trademark argument, attempting to show that the presence of the idea of God in his mind is equivalent to the trademark (or signature) left on an object created by a craftsman. Descartes believes the all of the above topics lead to the understanding of the omnipotent being also known as the all-knowing