Descartes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Descartes - Essay Example nd republished in 1642, â€Å"Meditations of First Philosophy,† which covers a number of philosophical topics that he was heavily invested in discussed some of these topics. One of these topics includes the existence of God and whether or not such a thing could possibly exist. However Descartes lived in an era where the Catholic Church held a great deal of power. Had Descartes come to any other conclusion than an affirmative confirmation of God he might have been excommunicated from the Church or, worse, branded a heretic. So this begs the question did Descartes believe in God or was he padding his conclusions to avoid Church persecution? Descartes said, â€Å"†¦were it not the case that God really existed. By ‘God’ I mean the very being the idea of whom is within me, that is, the possessor of all the perfections which I cannot grasp†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Descartes 1-132). Descartes makes his case in the â€Å"Meditations† that there must be a God. It is like a geometric shape, constant, ever present, and unwavering. He supported his conclusions, essentially, based on the following reasons (Kurtin). Essentially this works out as God is perfect but man is not, which means that God must exist because an imperfect being would not be capable of conceiving of a perfect one. In fairness, there are a number of flaws in Descartes thinking on this topic. He makes an assumption that because humanity is flawed then God must be perfect. Because God is perfect then man could never have invented a perfect being. However, none of these lines of thinking ever offer tangible proof of the existence of God. If works from the perspective, a biased one, because people wanted to believe in God. It seems likely that that Descartes was no different. However, as a philosopher he could not consider the reality without reflection and thought. He wanted God to be real so he created a logic that allows God to be real. This sort of thinking serves the thinker very well, but may not be received as well by