Descartes Onto Flashcards
Innate Knowledge
Descartes believed we were all gifted w/ innate knowledge of God.
Some things cannot be doubted.
The truths of mathematics, and Descartes as claims, Gods existence.
Proving Gs existence is showing there’s no reason to doubt his existence for Descartes.
Descartes ‘immutable’ triangle.
The nature of a triangle is immutable- Meaning incapable of changing or being different.
God is like a triangle
Gs nature is also immutable.
Since part of his nature it’s existence, he exists.
His existence is fundamental to his nature, like a triangle having three sides.
The essence of God….
Is that he exists and existence is a predicate of God.
Existence as perfection
God is supremely perfect being.
A property of perfection is existence.
Therefore god exists.
Descartes on existence.
Argues existence is a ‘perfection’
Imagine your dream car…
Descartes would argue that its not the perfect car unless it exists.
It is impossible to think of a mountain w/o a valley….
Valleys are a predicate of mountains.
Existence is a predicate of Perfection.
Since G is perfect, he must exist.
