What is Descartes ontological argument for God's existence?

In the same context, Descartes also characterizes the ontological argument as a proof from the “essence” or “nature” of God, arguing that necessary existence cannot be separated from the essence of a supremely perfect being without contradiction.

Similarly one may ask, what is the ontological argument for the existence of God?

An ontological argument is a philosophical argument for the existence of God that uses ontology. Many arguments fall under the category of the ontological, and they tend to involve arguments about the state of being or existing.

Beside above, what are the 5 arguments for the existence of God? They are:

the argument from "first mover";
the argument from causation;
the argument from contingency;
the argument from degree;
the argument from final cause or ends ("teleological argument").

In this regard, what is Descartes argument for the existence of God in meditation 3?

Descartes' First Proof of the Existence of God in Meditation III: Axiom: There is at least as much reality in the efficient and total cause as in the effect of that cause. Axiom: Something cannot arise from nothing. Axiom: What is more perfect cannot arise from what is less perfect.

What is the ontological argument simple?

The ontological argument is an idea in religious philosophy. It is supposed to show that God exists. There are different versions, but they all argue something like: because we can imagine a perfect being, there must be a god. The idea is that existing makes a good thing better than one that's only imaginary.

36 Related Question Answers Found

What are the 5 proofs of the existence of God?

This book provides a detailed, updated exposition and defense of five of the historically most important (but in recent years largely neglected) philosophical proofs of God's existence: the Aristotelian, the Neo-Platonic, the Augustinian, the Thomistic, and the Rationalist.

What is the teleological argument for the existence of God?

The teleological or physico-theological argument, also known as the argument from design, or intelligent design argument is an argument for the existence of God or, more generally, for an intelligent creator based on perceived evidence of deliberate design in the natural world.

What are the premises Anselm uses to prove the existence of God?

Anselm claims to derive the existence of God from the concept of a being than which no greater can be conceived. St. Anselm reasoned that, if such a being fails to exist, then a greater being—namely, a being than which no greater can be conceived, and which exists—can be conceived.

Does the ontological argument succeed?

The argument entails that any conclusive ontological arguments would contradict the very nature of God. In short, it leads to the conclusion that no ontological argument can be successful. It should be noted that the above argument has the general form of a reductio ad absurdum.

What is the point of Pascal's wager?

Pascal's wager is an argument in philosophy presented by the seventeenth-century French philosopher, mathematician and physicist, Blaise Pascal (1623–1662). It posits that humans bet with their lives that God either exists or does not.

What does it mean to be ontological?

Ontology is the philosophical study of being. More broadly, it studies concepts that directly relate to being, in particular becoming, existence, reality, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations.

Is the idea of God innate?

The innate idea of God is said to represent God insofar as the idea's objective reality has its origin in the formal reality of God (an infinite substance). The innate idea of a body is said to represent a body insofar as the idea's objective reality has its origin in the formal reality of a corporeal substance.

Can existence be treated as a predicate?

Premise 3 thus entails that (1) existence is a property; and (2) instantiating existence makes a thing better, other things being equal, than it would have been otherwise. Kant rejects premise 3 on the ground that, as a purely formal matter, existence does not function as a predicate.

What did Descartes believe about the soul?

For Plato however, the soul was not dependent on the physical body; he believed in metempsychosis, the migration of the soul to a new physical body. Dualism is closely associated with the thought of René Descartes (1641), which holds that the mind is a nonphysical—and therefore, non-spatial—substance.

Why is God not a deceiver?

Can God, as defined above, be a deceiver? Descartes's answer is no: “it is manifest by the natural light that all fraud and deception depend on some defect.” Proof that God is not a deceiver: 1) From the supreme being only being may flow (nonbeing – nothingness – neither needs nor can have a cause).

What is Descartes cosmological argument?

Descartes' cosmological (or causal) arguments for the existence of God are often thought to be among the least plausible aspects of his philosophy and, perhaps as a result, have been relatively neglected by commentators.

What is the problem of evil in philosophy?

Problem of evil. The problem of evil is the question of how to reconcile the existence of evil and suffering with an omnipotent, omnibenevolent, and omniscient God (see theism). Or as the first known presentation by the Greek philosopher Epicurus puts it: "Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?

Did Descartes believe in free will?

Freedom is a central theme in Descartes's philosophy, where it is linked to the theme of the infinite: it is through the freedom of the will, experienced as unlimited, that the human understands itself to bear the "image and likeness" of the infinite God.

What does cogito ergo sum mean?

Cogito, ergo sum is a Latin philosophical proposition by René Descartes usually translated into English as "I think, therefore I am". The phrase originally appeared in French as je pense, donc je suis in his Discourse on the Method, so as to reach a wider audience than Latin would have allowed.

Why does Descartes think that God Cannot be a deceiver?

First, Descartes' claim that these perceptions are clear and distinct indicates that the mind cannot help but believe them true, and so they must be true for otherwise God would be a deceiver, which is impossible. So the premises of this argument are firmly rooted in his foundation for absolutely certain knowledge.

What is the problem of the Cartesian circle?

The cartesian circle is an error in reasoning, that has made Descartes argument circular. Descartes is guilty of circular reasoning due to the fact that a premise of his argument is included in the conclusion of his argument because the rule of truth is contingent upon God's existence.

What role does God play in Descartes theory of knowledge?

On Descartes' account, it is God who allows us to know "what is important to us." If certain chunks of knowledge are deemed by God to be too complicated or unnecessary to our understanding of the world, we will not have access to it.