Descartes’ Proof of God’s Existence: Innate Ideas
Descartes’ Proof of God’s Existence
Innate Ideas and the Concept of God
Following his consideration of innate ideas, Descartes turned his attention to the idea of God. He understood God as “an infinite, independent, highly intelligent, and powerful substance that had created him and anything that exists, if it exists.”
The Justification for a Finite Substance
The use of “finite substance” seems justified. After analyzing a series of ideas and checking their compliance with certain conditions, Descartes arrives at the idea of God through the same impulse to think that he may be able to eradicate any doubts at all. As he hesitated, he could not be all-perfect. Descartes needed to prove that the idea of God did not originate from the creator himself and that it corresponded to something real. To understand the world, he first had to prove the existence of God.
The Origin of the Idea of Infinity
Obviously, Descartes had never been in the presence of an infinite being, so he could not have acquired that idea through the senses. Furthermore, it is possible that this idea was obtained from the analysis of his own nature: he knew very well that he was a finite being.
The idea of infinity is, because of its perfection, prior to the idea of finiteness, since any defect and denial presupposes that which is failing and that which it denies. Otherwise, one could not explain the desire to have absolutely certain knowledge. The idea of God is prior to Descartes himself, which prevents it from having its origin in his mind.
God as the Source of Perfection
When God created us in His image and likeness, He gave us the idea of an infinite being, the very idea of God. But it is true that we could pretend that the supreme creator does not exist. However, although not entirely understood (due to our limitations), we understand that everything that has some perfection must somehow come from God because He is the supremely perfect being. It is enough to know that the idea of an infinite being is the truest and most real of all that we possess. If the idea of God possesses these perfect characteristics and cannot have been created by us, because we are imperfect, then that idea must necessarily exist: God exists.
The Principle of Causality
The cause of something must have at least as much reality as there is in its effect. For example, if something is heated, it will be because of something having the same or a greater degree of heat than the heated thing. Applying this principle to his mental faculty, Descartes could not have the idea of heat unless it had been put in him for reasons having as much reality as the heat itself.
Even though these things do not pass on to our thought anything of their actual reality, our mind needs this reality to build the idea or representation of the thing. Otherwise, we would be saying that some of our mental contents come from nowhere. This is an absurd conclusion, and even more so when what is in dispute is the idea of an infinite being.
The Reality of God
If we have the notion of a substance that meets at a high level all the qualities we can imagine, and even know the very idea of that substance, it will necessarily have to be real. The effect—the idea—must have at least as much reality as its cause—the thing that generates it. Therefore, the idea can only come from an infinite being, God. If we, being finite, have the idea of God, it compels us to conclude that God exists.
Conclusion
If the demonstration we have just witnessed is correct, one must admit that Descartes achieved what he wanted. He found an idea that was not caused by his mind and, furthermore, he has proven it. He has achieved universal suspicion introduced to exorcise the evil genius hypothesis. However, all is not as clear as it seems.