Descartes. Argument for GOD.
AQA A2 philosophy Descartes. Focusing on Descartes' arguments for God realting to types and degrees of reality, essential properties and the cartesian circle.
- Created by: Noshinxoxo
- Created on: 13-06-13 22:12
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- TYPES & DEGREES of REALITY
- Formal reality
- possessed by things simply by virtue of EXISTING
- INFINITE object will have more FORMAL reality (will exist longer) than a FINITE object
- Objective reality
- relating to the REPRESENTATIONAL content of ideas.
- IDEA of a FINITE substance will have more OBJECTIVE reality than the idea of one of its properties. (idea of finite is bigger than idea of e.g. colour)
- Reality also has degrees. e.g. LOGICAL SUBSTANCES have MORE reality than their PROPERTIES.
- Formal reality
- 3. I do not posses the INFINITE FORMAL REALITY required to cause an idea with INFINITE OBJECTIVE reality
- I have less FORMAL reality than the OBJECTIVE reality of attributes of GOD like INFINITE/ OMNISCIENT etc.
- 1. Cause of an object must have as much FORMAL reality as the OBJECTIVE reality of its effect.
- If i have an idea of a ROCK as GREY. the rock must posses GREYNESS for me to have the OBJECTIVE reality of greyness
- However Descartes uses God's benevolence as the reason to us being able to understand things clearly and distinctly.
- Either proving God is unessecary because Clear and distint ideas are known alone or we're stuck in a circle
- Either proving God is unessecary because Clear and distint ideas are known alone or we're stuck in a circle
- THE DOCTRINE OF ESSENTIAL PROPERTIES.
- The notion that all substances have a single property which is ESSENTIAL to their existence and DEFINITIVE of their nature
- The essence of anything can be known through RATIONAL THOUGHT and INTROSPECTION.
- The essence of a MATERIAL SUBSTANCE is its EXTENSION (shown by the fact that its impossible to conceive of an un-extended material object).
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