discuss and answer the problematic center of gravity in the 3rd meditation of Descartes?

Question

this is related to philosophy

Answer 1

In Descartes' third meditation, he tries to prove that his thoughts are not alone in the universe. Interestingly enough, he decides to prove that 'God', a single, perfect, omnipotent being, exists as the very first thing he can be sure of outside of himself.

He does this in a curious way. He suggests that he has in his mind an IDEA of such an entity. Because nothing can come from nothing, he argues, the idea must have come from somewhere and the only place for it to have come from is outside himself, a.k.a. reality.

He then backs up his idea of the existance of God in another way. He suggests that he cannot be sure that he has always existed, nor that he is perfect. God, on the other hand, must have always existed and must be perfect. Therefore God must have created him, and not he God.

Both sets of arguements are completely laden with unverified assumptions and sloppy logic. Take his assumtion that 'nothing comes from nothing'... how does he know that? He doesn't - the assumption came from nothing, thereby diproving it!

Likewise, another critically flawed piece of his argument is that ideas must have a basis in reality. In fact, there are numerous ideas that are purely conceptual have have no real-life analogue. Take the mathematical idea of a 'plane' (or all of math, for that matter): are there any infinitely extending two-dimensional objects in the real world? If there are, I certainly haven't seen nor heard of them!

Even theologians take a bit of umbrage at his attempt to DEFINE god into existance. St Thomas Aquinas, for example, felt that there were plenty of great ways to prove God exists and that simply defining God into existance not only demeans God but also imples a lack of divine free will in the matter.

Hope that helps! Some suggest that the only reason Descartes put that nonsense in to begin with was to placate the religious censors who might otherwise have prevented his work from ever being published. I suppose we'll never know for sure about that one!

Answer 2

i'm assuming you're finding for an answer in the custom of Descartes and not in basic terms a random opinion. i'm no longer an authority onDescartes in spite of the incontrovertible fact that. i might say understanding the self first is fantastic, it does not negate the god that supposedly existed 1st, it only propose you're concentrating on the self 1st. then you definately can understand "god" greater effectual. wish that enables a sprint

Answer 3

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