Descartes' Method of Doubt and Term Paper

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Then, by beginning with the idea that there may or may not be a chair present at all, one can begin building on those truths that remain to establish more truths and eventually establish the presence of the chair.

Descartes uses such reasoning not only to establish the presence of those things that can be verified by the use of the senses, but also to establish the existence of God and the immortality of the soul. Descartes begins with the premise that neither mountains nor valleys may exist, but that if they do exist, then "a necessary attribute of a mountain is that it be adjacent to a valley" (Burnham and Fieser). Descartes acknowledges that the same could be said of the existence of God:

In the same way, even though the concept of supremely perfect being necessarily possesses certain attributes, it doesn't follow that this being exists.

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It only entails that should a God exist, His existence would be necessary. Descartes replies that this misses the analogy, and falls to his reply to the first objection. With ordinary ideas, to be sure, existence is never necessary - but other properties may be, and that is where the analogy lies (Burnham and Fieser).

Therefore, even though Descartes attempts to demonstrate how he uses the method of reason to prove the existence of God, he makes it clear that the existence of God is one of the things that he is presupposing- the one truth that is not subject to doubt. This conclusion demonstrates the flaw in the method of doubt and exposes the flaw that is present in the Meditations.

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