While all six of Rene Descartes' 'Meditations' contain ideas and concepts that are hard to digest by the average reader at the best of times, perhaps the most difficult-to-swallow is his third meditation on his proof for the existence of God. The first meditation is subtitled 'What can be called into doubt', in which he explains his form of scepticism which can doubt the existence of anything presented by the senses which seems to exist outside of the mind itself. In this meditation Descartes begins by mentioning that he had as a child accepted many things as true which later transpired to be false, and suggests that knowledge he now takes for granted could equally be false. He goes on to suppose that a supremely powerful demon could be deceiving him, and that perhaps it would be safer to doubt everything he has taken for granted concerning the world around him, if indeed there is one, and start from scratch. The second meditation, subtitled 'The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body', begins with this 'clean slate' of scepticism towards anything external to the mind, and concludes that the on

2) There cannot be more objective reality in an idea in my mind than there is formal reality in the object of my idea; an idea cannot contain anything greater or more perfect than its cause

'...if an idea A represents some object X which is F, then F-ness will be contained 'formally' in X but 'objectively' in A' [p90]

In conclusion, Descartes 'proof' for the existence of God seems to contain indefensible flaws- that the idea of perfection could be deduced and that even given its existence in the mind, it does not necessarily follow that perfection itself exists as an infinite substance. While his meditations provide a great deal of intelligent, well written food-for-thought concerning scepticism, knowledge God and truth, the only thing that can truly make someone believe in God is faith, not proof.

Descartes considers possible areas of criticism after proving the existence of infinite substance. He considers first that the idea of an infinite substance could be arrived at by deduction, 'not by means of a true idea but merely by negating the finite'. He responds by stating again that there is more reality to an infinite substance than a finite one, and continues '...how could I understand that I doubted or desired...that I was not wholly perfect, unless there were in me some idea of a more perfect being which enabled me to recognize my own defects by comparison?' [p94]. But it is not the existence of the idea of God within his mind that is being questioned- it is the origin of this idea. Stating that more reality exists in an infinite substance also does not seem to address whether the idea of infinity is arrived at by knowing what is finite and deducing from there. Descartes can almost be accused of trying to dodge his own question, and this poor defence of his proof is the first criticism against it.

So in order for a truth to be beyond doubt it must form a clear and distinct idea in the mind. Descartes now realises that while he can easily doubt the existence of everything presented to him through his senses such as the earth, sky and stars, he clearly and distinctly perceives the ideas of these things being present in his mind. He had taken for granted that the causes of these ideas were things outside him which were the sources of the ideas and resembled them in all respects. While it has transpired that this may not be the case, Descartes now feels sure of the existence not only of his thinking mind, but also of clear, distinct ideas which may or may not be caused by things in the external world that correspond to them.

Descartes sees it as a clear, distinct truth that an accident contains the least objective reality, there is more reality in a mode and more still in a substance. His idea of God as a kind of infinite, omnipotent substance must also contain more objective reality than ideas of any finite substance. Laws of cause and effect provide the first proof for the existence of God.

Descartes claims to recognise all of these points so clearly and distinctly that they must be true. He continues by attempting to use these facts to establish finally whether he is alone in the world. His logic dictates that if an idea exists in his mind whose objective reality is so great as to eliminate the possibility of that same amount of formal reality residing within him, it must have been caused by something other than himself, and therefore something exists whose reality is greater than his own. He eliminates the possibility of his ideas of other men, animals, objects and even angels being higher in objective reality than any reality formally contained in his own mind. The only idea remaining is that of God.

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Approximate Word count = 2945
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)