Philosophical Works · Chapter
XVIII explained
Descartes argues that the idea of God, or an all-perfect Being, found in our minds must originate from an actually existing all-perfect Being, since the more perfect cannot arise from the less perfect, and we do not possess those perfection
What happens
Descartes argues that the idea of God, or an all-perfect Being, found in our minds must originate from an actually existing all-perfect Being, since the more perfect cannot arise from the less perfect, and we do not possess those perfections in ourselves.
Themes in this chapter
Existence of God
Descartes infers God's existence from the presence of the idea of an all-perfect Being in the mind, arguing that such an idea must originate from an actually existing perfect being.
Reason and Method
The argument employs the natural light of reason and causal reasoning to establish a foundational truth about reality.
Characters to notice
- René Descartes
Author and philosopher presenting the argument for God's existence from the idea of perfection.
- God
The all-perfect Being whose existence is inferred from the idea of perfection in the mind.
Key passages
“Thus, because we discover in our minds the idea of God, or of an all-perfect Being, we have a right to inquire into the source whence we derive it; and we will discover that the perfections it represents are so immense as to render it quite certain that we could only derive it from an all-perfect Being; that is, from a God really existing.”
Since we find the idea of a perfect God in our minds, we can investigate its origin and conclude that such immense perfections must come from an actually existing perfect being—God.
Descartes presents the core causal argument for God's existence based on the idea of perfection.
“For it is not only manifest by the natural light that nothing cannot be the cause of anything whatever, and that the more perfect cannot arise from the less perfect, so as to be thereby produced as by its efficient and total cause, but also that it is impossible we can have the idea or representation of anything whatever, unless there be somewhere, either in us or out of us, an original which comprises, in reality, all the perfections that are thus represented to us”
The natural light shows that nothing comes from nothing and that a lesser thing cannot produce a greater one; likewise, any idea must have a real original containing the perfections it represents.
Descartes grounds his argument in the principle of causality and the requirement that the cause must contain at least as much reality as the effect.