Reading Reflection on Descartes' Meditation Three PDF
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Will Creighton
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This document is a reflection on Descartes' Meditation Three, focusing on his arguments for the existence of God, causality, and the nature of perfect being. The author discusses the concept of cause and effect, and how less perfect beings cannot conceive of more perfect entities, hence God.
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Will Creighton Reading Reflection In Descartes' Meditation Three, Descartes writes about the existence of God, in it he brings up the notion of causality. Cause and effect. Something must have been done before the effect to enact the cause. Descartes reflects on the clear ideas he finds within his...
Will Creighton Reading Reflection In Descartes' Meditation Three, Descartes writes about the existence of God, in it he brings up the notion of causality. Cause and effect. Something must have been done before the effect to enact the cause. Descartes reflects on the clear ideas he finds within his own mind, of which being God. The perfect being. He argues that this idea of God is so vast and perfect that it could not have originated form within himself. Descartes himself is finite and an imperfect being. "It is true that my being a substance explains my having the idea of substance; but it does not explain my having the idea of an infinite substance." (Meditation III page 14). Descartes writes that in order for the cause and effect, there must be at least as much reality or perfection within it. This states that something cannot come from nothing, furthermore, a less perfect being cannot think of something that is more perfect than itself. Finally, Descartes is limited, he is not perfect, and he cannot be the source of the infinite God. The argument of Descartes, he believes that he has an idea of God, that it is infinite, perfect, and all powerful. As well as this, there must be an idea to have the cause, this is where God would fit in. The cause of this idea must be perfect like the idea itself. He cannot be the cause of this idea because he is not perfect. The only one who can is God. "I conclude that the mere fact that I exist and have within me an idea of a most perfect being==that is, God---provides a clear proof that God does indeed exist." (Meditation III page 16). Some assumptions that Descartes relies on are the innateness of the idea of God, that it was not derived from external sources or imagination. Along with this, he assumes the truth of the cause of something having at least as much reality as the thing itself. Finaly, Descartes considers the clear perception of the idea of God as its truth.
