Descartes - proving God's existence
11/10/12 12:30 Filed in: Theology
These steps in Descartes’ argument are from the Meditation nr 3. Here they are:
I have an idea of an infinitely perfect substance.
Such an idea must have a cause.
From nothing, nothing comes (Ex nihilo nihil fit).
So the cause of an idea must have at least as much formal reality as there is subjective reality in the idea.
Though I am a substance, I am not infinitely perfect.
So I could not be the cause of this idea.
So there must be a formal reality that is an infinitely perfect substance.
So God exists.
I have an idea of an infinitely perfect substance.
Such an idea must have a cause.
From nothing, nothing comes (Ex nihilo nihil fit).
So the cause of an idea must have at least as much formal reality as there is subjective reality in the idea.
Though I am a substance, I am not infinitely perfect.
So I could not be the cause of this idea.
So there must be a formal reality that is an infinitely perfect substance.
So God exists.
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