Proof for the Existence of God

Paper Type:  Essay
Pages:  4
Wordcount:  853 Words
Date:  2022-03-24

Descartes was a French philosopher who was considered as the "Father of current day philosophy." He put forth some arguments some of which were explaining the existence of God. In his point of view he claimed that God exists and he went on to prove that indeed he exists. Descartes wrote all his opinions although a lot of philosophers challenged his assertion openly. They never accounted for the existence of God in that way that Descartes accounted for it. In his so-called Ontological argument found is his Fifth Meditation has a straightforward way of thinking, and throughout his dispute he believes in the existence of God in a straight geometrical line.

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Descartes argument for the presence of God emanates from his idea that follows the line that God's existence is deductible, and this comes from his nature. Descartes uses the example of the sum of the interior angles of the triangle adds up to two right angles, and this is deducible from the idea of the nature of the triangle. Here what Descartes simply meant was that all this is as a result of the nature of the triangle and so due to this we cannot separate it from its form. Without this property then the triangle is unintelligible (Descartes, Rene 2018). When we relate this to the existence of God, then we can say that it is apparent on the presence of God as a being that is perfect, the highest form of perfection, a supreme being in that nature and the precisions of the highest degree. The actual existence in itself is perfection and at least in so far as it would be agreeable it is actually to exist than not to exist.

According to Descartes, if the whole idea about God did not have actual existence, then we would say it does not have perfection. In this nature, it would not be a valid idea of a supreme being but we would talk about the idea of something with an imperfection that is non-existent and it would therefore, be the notion of God. Consequently, the belief about a supreme existence which is perfect or a God without existence seems to be incomprehensible. This only means that the presence is to be contained in the spirit of a substance that is infinite or something that does not have an end and that is immeasurable. By this line of thought, God must exist by his very nature. Just like looking at a triangle which exists by its nature and we prove it in the angles then God also exists by this nature and if we try to have an dispute about God not prevailing then we are bound to a difficult situation that we cannot seem to be able to explain. As Descartes put it having this idea of the non-existence of God is well like trying to think of having a mountain that does not have a valley. This can therefore mean it is something that can never exist at all and something that cannot be done by anybody. Descartes puts it in his arguments that "there is no less inconsistency in perceiving that a supremely perfect being who does not exist, than there is in apprehending a triangle whose inner angles do not add up to 180 degrees" (Descartes). This, therefore, means that by the very nature that there exists a supremely perfect being then we have to say that God exists.

I do not support this dispute by Descartes simply because these ontological arguments as Immanuel Kant put it are presupposed by their dependence upon which the implied supposition that "existence" is a base (Immanuel Kant). This can mean that these ideas are not so much convincing and another philosopher criticized it and said that "it is much simpler convince that ontological opinions are not worthy than it is to say what it precisely seems incorrect with them" (Bertrand Russell). These arguments are not well understood because you cannot just claim the existence of God by just saying that some things are there and exist because of their nature to exist (Descartes, Rene 2018). We cannot prove the existence of something by quoting the simple reason than it is its nature to exist.

This argument makes Descartes have a different approach in interacting with the world. Descartes forms the mindset of looking at the nature of the presupposition that things exist or happen because of some underlying nature that they are supposed to be. By the fact that it is indispensable for something to happen then that means it is its nature to come to pass and that it will happen. There is the idea on the cause of the way that things happen. All these views have fascinated philosophers for many years, and that is why Descartes was known to as the "father of modern philosophy." Descartes believed in the existence as a result of nature and that things do occur because there is always the aspect that they are meant to exist.

Work cited

Descartes, Rene. "DESCARTES'S DISCOURSE ON METHOD." Ratio et Fides: A Preliminary Intro-duction to Philosophy for Theology (2018): 109.

Cite this page

Proof for the Existence of God. (2022, Mar 24). Retrieved from https://proessays.net/essays/proof-for-the-existence-of-god

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