Vivien Lam

My thesis: Descartes’ cogito argument in which “cogito ergo sum,” latin for “I think therefore I am,” is valid. This is justified by the connection between a thought in the mind and how the presence of God can determine the truth of that thought.  Anything that I think must be true because God is perfect and would not allow me to falsely perceive things.  Because I can think about and perceive myself, I therefore must exist.

Abstract of my argument: To support Descartes’ cogito argument, the existence of god is crucial to his justification. Descartes’ reasons that there must be some other entity that deceives him or places the idea of doubt in his mind. Because God is real and that God is perfect, there is no way that God would let anything deceive a person or place that idea in their head. God is often thought of as an all-powerful being, meaning that he can’t be wrong.  By taking that idea and putting into Descartes’ terms, humans can’t have false perceptions because if God placed that perception in one’s head it must be true. That is why if one thinks, they exist. Nevertheless, whatever the person thinks will be true backed by the basic existence of a perfect God.

The strongest objection: God is perceived differently depending on the person, as God may be perceived as an all-powerful being to Descartes, but some other cultures and backgrounds may not think of God as having the same degree of perfection or truthfulness.

My reply to that objection: While it is true that not everyone will think of God in the same way, a person will have some sort of influence on their thoughts aside from God, be it some evil demon or other person.  This places the concept of doubt in one’s mind, and since that person is able form a doubt about their existence or other things (in this case, God), they are doubting the validity of the idea, so essentially they are thinking about something that they thought doesn’t exist when clearly they are thinking of it themselves.

In the book Meditations on First Philosophy, consisting of six separate meditations, Descartes debates what he knows is certain. In the third meditation, Descartes argues that being backed by the belief of a perfect God justifies his cogito argument which states, “cogito ergo sum,” Latin for “I think therefore I am,” is valid. Descartes reasons about a connection between a thought in the mind and how the presence of a perfect God can determine the truth of that thought. His terms in the argument basically state that anything I think must be true because God is perfect and would not allow me to falsely perceive things.  Because I can think about and perceive myself, I therefore must exist.

To support Descartes’ cogito argument, the existence of a perfect and undeceiving God is crucial. Because God is perfect and therefore cannot lie, Descartes reasons that there must be some other entity that deceives him or places the idea of doubt in his mind. He formulates that it would be impossible that something, like a thought can stem from nothing, meaning there has to be something, like himself, for that thought to come from. Because he can perceive himself, and a perfect and deceiving God would not allow man to have false perceptions, he must exist. Descartes also proves his argument by explaining the relationship between God and objective reality (the degree of how realistic something is apart from what is thought of in one’s conscious), explaining that since the idea of God is in his mind, the idea is infinite as well because God is an infinite being. The only way that thought could have appeared in his mind can only be justified by the existence of an infinite being like God who planted that idea. This brings him to the conclusion that because God is real and that God is perfect, there is no way that God would let anything deceive a person or place that idea in their head.  God is often thought of as an all-powerful being, meaning that he cannot be wrong.  By taking that idea and putting into Descartes’ terms, humans cannot have false perceptions because if God placed that perception in one’s head it must be true. That is why if one thinks, they exist. Nevertheless, whatever the person thinks will be true backed by the basic existence of a perfect God. Descartes further argues that God is the only possible explanation to his claim about his existence and God because he has his doubts and is able to think, since he is able to think, he exists. He speculates that there must be a causation as to why he can exist and by ruling out himself, his family, and someone else that is not as powerful as God. He concludes that the only possible reason is that since his cogito argument is true, the existence of a God must be too because only a being as perfect as God could have made him exist.

The problem with the concept of God and Descartes’ justification in the third meditation can be argued by the fact that God is perceived differently depending on the person, as God may be perceived as an all-powerful being to Descartes, but some other cultures and backgrounds may not think of God as having the same degree of perfection or truthfulness. This is also backed by the flaw that the concept of god is not as universal or clear as a mathematical concept such as one plus one because it is for certain that if one object is put together with another object the result will be that there will be two objects in total. Thus, just because one can think that something as perfect like God exists does not mean that it actually exists.

Descartes did not have the intention of proving God’s existence with a clear understanding, in another sense it would be impossible to prove God in a logical way, so rather than trying to set out to show God’s existence, he is more likely justified as a way to fight the doubt about one’s own existence. While it is true that not everyone will think of God in the same way, a person will have some sort of influence on their thoughts aside from God, be it some evil demon or other person. This places the concept of doubt in one’s mind, and since that person is able form a doubt about their existence or other things (in this case, God), they are doubting the validity of the idea, so essentially they are thinking about something that they thought doesn’t exist when clearly they are thinking of it themselves. This ties back to the concept of “cogito ergo sum,” if I can think that I or it exists then it does in fact exist.