In the sections that have been selected, Descartes centers his focus on the nature of God and the relationship between God and Man. In a basic sense, in order to support any of his later theories about “knowing” and “knowledge”, Descartes must establish a new philosophical foundation. He begins by stripping down all knowledge that is through both the senses and through reason. He finds his basis in the fact that since he is capable of thinking, then he must exist, even if only while thinking. With this alone as a basis, Descartes’s arguments would be rather feeble because this explanation fails to address any of the physical perceptions that come through the senses. He addresses this by adding to his foundation a correlation between our existence and the existence of God.
Such a correlation merges from Descartes’s answering the basic question that arises when descartes is “reconstructing” philosophy. This question is why would Descartes want to cast doubt on the truths acquired through reason? The answer is simple: if God has given the senses to humans and the senses are capable of deceiving, then it is logical that reason, also of God, may be deceptive as well. Since reason comes of God, proving that truths acquired through reason are, in fact, true would lend to the notion that God must exist.
The definitive proof of God’s existence is provided by Descartes through his explanation of the infinite. Descartes acknowledges that there is objective reality in which ideas exist and that there is formal reality where physical objects exist that are perceived by our senses. The objective reality is omposed exclusively of ideas and is the true reality of any object which we may “perceive”. In a sense, Descartes’s objective reality hearkens back to the notion of the “eidos” of Platonic and Socratic philosophy. Also, he acknowledges that out of the things that comprise formal reality, there is a hierarchy associated with each being according to their level of interaction with objective reality. As Professor Vaught explained in class, a human has much greater importance than a turnip because the human has reason and the capacity to think (even if not all humans seem to feel the need to actually think).
If we are to accept that humans exist physically as a part of formal reality, then we must accept that humans are finite. However, we must also accept that in order for there to be a finite world, there must also exist a sense of the infinite to counter it. He explains that this concept of the infinite is not fully understood by finite beings, but nevertheless, must exist. In Descartes’s words, “we do not... positively understand them [infinite things] to be in every respect unlimited, but merely negatively admit that their limits, if they exist, cannot be discovered by us” (238). Since this concept of the infinite cannot come from a finite being, then it must be a result of an infinite being, thus necessitating the existence of God. In so proving the existence of God, Descartes proves not only that God exists, but that thoughts and ideas must be correct because they are exist in the objective reality of the mind where the physical senses cannot obscure truth.
Questions for thought:
If we, as beings of a finite world, cannot truly conceive of the concept of true infinity, then how can we possibly know that true infinity exists?
Is it possible that our concept of infinity is wrong?
What would this mean for Descartes’s theories on philosophy?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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2 comments:
According to Descartes, the fact we are finite beings is proof that we could not have invented the concept of infinity ourselves. We could not have learned it from experience either, because all things that we experience with the five senses are finite. So, if we did not make it up ourselves and we did not learn it from the outside world, that only leaves the possibility that some infinite being must have taught us the idea of infinity. Through this logic, one must admit that an infinite being such as God must exist. If one agrees to that, then he must also agree that true infinity exists, even if it cannot be fully comprehended by finite beings.
It is interesting that you should suggest that our concept of infinite might be wrong. The fact is, as Descartes claims, that if we cannot fully understand them, then of course, most of what we say about them must be wrong.
Both of these points support Descartes' philosophical theories.
In my oppinion, our concept of infinite could not be wrong. Our concept of finite is indisputably correct and accurate because of the fact that we are finite beings. This being said, we are limited. Our experiences are limited, and every aspect of us is limited...capacity for love, knowledge, all clearly finite. We have never been in contact with, and have never percieved anything other than finite. Therefore, if we have such a vivid clear description of finite things, or limited things, than there must be a clear idea of what infinite. Just because we can not make any examples of infinite (because we have never experienced infinite) does not mean that our idea of infinity is incorrect. In addition, according to Descartes' theory, only an infinite unlimited being like God could have created the notion of Infinity in us.
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