Descartes- Meditations on 1st Philosophy Help?

Question

In the greetings from Rene(page 1 para 2) what does he mean by circular when he says "Granted, it is altogether true that we must believe in God's existence because it is taught in the Holy Scriptures, and, conversely, that we must believe the Holy Scriptures because they have come from God, the very same one who gives the grace that is necessary for believing the rest can also give the grace to believe that he exsits. Nonetheless, this reasoning cannot be proposed to unbelievers because they would judge it or be circular."

Answer 1

http://home.sprynet.com/~owl1/descart1.htm
Circular logic- A circular definition is one that assumes a prior understanding of the term being defined. By using the term(s) being defined as a part of the definition, a circular definition provides no new or useful information; either the audience already knows the meaning of the term(s), or the definition is deficient in including the term(s) to be defined in the definition itself.

Answer 2

Anything like this is circular reasoning.

Where A must be true because of B. And B is true because A says so.

Indeed, circular logic is no basis for an argument.
However, the truth may indeed reside in the scriptures and have been directly inspired by God. Yet humans are inherently a mixture of good and bad. Therefore, not everything in the scriptures will be God inspired.

It is like reading a jokes website, only some of the jokes will actually be funny and tastefull. One has to read all, and only keep those which are funny.

Answer 3

Ok... I have to believe in A because B. But, in order to believe in B, I must first believe in A. That is circular logic.

When you require one set of facts as a basis for the existence of another set of facts, that original set of facts cannot require the second set of facts to be true in order to be true.

Example... I know John has a cat because there is hair on his shirt. I know that the hair comes from a cat because john has a cat. - This is circular. i can't use the hair as proof of john's ownership of a cat if I am also using johns ownership of a cat to define the type of hair.

Answer 4

really its just a statement of his own faith. You can see that non-beilivers do see it as circular. As a Christian I agree with it, but as someone who has studied philosophy I think its out of place in des cartes meditations because its irrelevant to his pursuit of epistemic knowledge.

Answer 5

It's circular because God is true because the bible says he is. but we Know the bible is true because God says it is in it. A is true because of B and B is true because of A. Both things refer to each other.

The point is you can prove one without the other.

Answer 6

I suggest looking up the term "tautology". An essentially meaningless claim.

Link below

Answer 7

it would mean that each of those statements uses the other to prove itself, even though neither of the statements are necessarily true.