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
_Solution._ ’Tis true the _Sophism_ seems to lie in this, yet tho I
cannot conceive a _Mountain_ but with a _Vally_, it does not from hence
follow, that a _Mountain_ or _Vally_ do _Exist_, but this will follow,
that whether a _Mountain_ or a _Vally do_ or _do not Exist_, yet they
cannot be _seperated_: so from hence that I cannot think of _God_ but
as _Existing_, it follows that _Existence_ is _Inseperable_ from _God_,
and therefore that he _Really Exists_; Not because my _Thought_ does
all this, or _Imposes_ any _necessity_ on any Thing, but contrarily,
because the _necessity_ of the thing it self (_viz._ of _Gods Existence_)
_Determines_ me to _think_ thus; for ’tis not in my Power to think a
_God_ without _Existence_ (that is, _A Being absolutely perfect_ without
the _Cheif Perfection_) as it is in my Power to imagine a Horse either
_with_ or _without Wings_.
_Doubt._ And here it cannot be said, that I am forced to suppose _God
Existing_, after I have supposed him _endowed_ with all _Perfections_,
seeing _Existence_ is one of them; but that my _First Position_ (_viz._
His _Absolute Perfection_) is not _necessary_. Thus, for example, ’tis
not _necessary_ for me to think all _Quadrilateral Figures_ inscribed in
a _Circle_; But supposing that I think _so_, I am then _necessitated_ to
Confess a _Rhombe Inscribed_ therein, and yet this is evidently _False_.
_Solution._ For tho I am not forced at any time to think of a _God_; yet
as often as I cast my Thoughts on a _First_ and _Cheif Being_, and as
it were bring forth out of the Treasury of my Mind an _Idea_ thereof,
I must of necessity attribute thereto all Manner of _Perfections_, tho
I do not at that time _count_ them over, or _Remark_ each single One;
which _necessity_ is sufficient to make me hereafter (when I come to
consider _Existence_ to be a _Perfection_) conclude _Rightly, That the
First and Chief Being does Exist_. Thus, for example, I am not obliged at
any time to imagine a _Triangle_, yet whenever I please to Consider of a
_Right-lined Figure_ having only _three Angles_, I am then _necessitated_
to allow it all those _Requisites_ from which I may argue rightly, _That
the Three Angles thereof are not Greater then Two Right Ones_, Tho
upon the first consideration this came not into my Thought. But when I
enquire what Figures may be _inscribed_ within a _Circle_, I am not at
all _necessitated_ to think that all _Quadrilateral Figures_ are of that
sort; neither can I possibly imagine this, whilst I admit of nothing,
but what I _clearly_ and _distinctly_ Understand: and therefore there
is a great Difference between these _False suppositions_, and _True
natural Ideas_, the _first_ and _Chief_; whereof is that of a _God_;
For by many wayes I understand _That_ not to be a _Fiction depending_
on my _Thought_, but an _Image_ of a _True_ and _Immutable Nature_;
As first, because I can think of no other thing but _God_ to Whose
_Essence Existence_ belongs.
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