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The Disposition of Recapitulation. DESCARTES' ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR GOD'S
EXISTENCE In the fifth Meditation, Descartes provides ...
... 19.21.) This implies a degree of control over material and its disposition that
renders ... Varro: a pause in the long argument (18-19)] 4. Recapitulation (23-26 ...
... of superior Powers but carries its Views farther, to their Disposition towards us ...
The preceding Section was ushered in with a very brief Recapitulation of his ...
... Having produced this favourable disposition of mind, Jesus Christ proceeds to qualify,
and ... 1876, what appears to be a part of a recapitulation and conclusion. ...
Submitted by bobbyqrs on February 8, 2006
Category: Miscellaneous
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DESCARTES' ONTOLOGICAL ARGUMENT FOR
GOD'S EXISTENCE
In the fifth Meditation, Descartes provides a version of the so-called Ontological Argument for God's existence, that is, an argument which attempts to derive the existence of a supremely perfect being from the very nature of the concept of a perfect being, or, in other words, from the definition of a supremely perfect being. The argument is fairly simple:
(1) I have a clear and distinct idea of a supremely perfect being.
(2) Existence is a perfection.
(3) Existence is inseparable from supreme perfection indeed, supreme perfection cannot be clearly and distinctly thought of without thereby thinking of existence.
(4) In having a clear and distinct idea of a supremely perfect being, I have a clear and distinct idea of an existing supremely perfect being.
Let us now consider. Normally, if I have a clear and distinct idea of something of a particular sort, it does not automatically follow that a thing of that sort exists, that is, I can, with consistency, think that no being of that sort exists. But given (4), I cannot suppose that a supremely perfect being does not exist, since existence is part of the essence of such a being and, hence, existence belongs to the content of what I am thinking of. Thus, given (4), we can infer,
(5) A supremely perfect being exists.
Objections to Descartes' Ontological Argument
Kant's Objection. Every real predicate expresses a property or attribute of something, that is, a definite "way" that a thing is or can be. Thus, to think of something X as having a given property is certainly different from thinking of X without that property. Now the term 'exists' is not a real predicate corresponding to a property or determination of a subject. It does not add anything to the concept of...
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