Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his bodyDescartes, René
PhilosophyPhilosophy
Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his body
Descartes, René
Descartes, René, 1596-1650; First philosophy; God -- Proof, Ontological; Knowledge, Theory of; Metaphysics; Methodology
Neither can it be said that this _Idea_ of _God_ is _false Materialiter_,
and that therefore it _proceeds_ from _nothing_, as before I observed of
the _Ideas_ of _heat_ and _cold_, _&c._ For on the contrary, seeing this
_notion_ is most _clear_ and _distinct_, and contains in it self more
_objective reality_ then any other _Idea_, none can be more _true_ in
it self, nor in which less _suspition_ of _falshood_ can be found. This
_Idea_ (I say) of a _being infinitely perfect_ is most _true_, for tho
it may be supposed that such a _being_ does _not exist_, yet it cannot
be supposed that the _Idea_ of such a _being_ exhibites to me nothing
_real_, as before I have said of the _Idea_ of _cold_. This _Idea_
also is most _clear_ and _distinct_, for whatever I perceive _clearly_
and _distinctly_ to be _real_, and _true_, and _perfect_, is wholy
_contain’d_ in this _Idea_ of _God_.
Neither can it be objected, that I cannot _comprehend_ an _Infinite_, or
that there are innumerable other things in _God_, which I can neither
_conceive_, nor in the least _think upon_; for it is of the _very
nature_ of an _Infinite_ not to be _apprehendable_ by _me_ who am
_finite_. And ’tis sufficient to me to prove this my _Idea_ of _God_ to
be the most _true_, the most _clear_, and the most _distinct Idea_ of all
those _Ideas_ I have, upon this _account_, that I understand that _God_
is _not to be understood_, and that I judge that whatever I _clearly_
perceive and know _Implys_ any _perfection_, as also perhaps other
innumerable _perfections_, which I am ignorant of, are in _God_ either
_formally_ or _eminently_.
_Doubt._ But perhaps _I am_ something _more_ then I take my self to
_be_, and perhaps all these _perfections_ which I attribute to _God_,
are _potentially_ in me, tho at present they do not shew themselves, and
break into action. For I am now fully experienced that my _Knowledge_ may
be _encreased_, and I see nothing that hinders why it may not _encrease_
by degrees in _Infinitum_, nor why by my _knowledge_ so _encreased_ I
may not attain to the other _perfections_ of _God_; nor lastly, why the
_power_ or _aptitude_ of _having_ these perfections may not be sufficient
to produce the _Idea_ of them in _me_.
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