Can One Perceive Or Confirm The Existence Of An Idea Or Object That Is :: essays research papers

Can One Perceive Or Confirm The Existence Of An Idea Or Object That Is extraneousTo Him Mainly - God?     "I think therefore I am." Man wills, refuses, perceives, understands,and denies many principles. As explained by Rene Descartes, man is a thinkingthing, a certified being who truthfully exists because he is certain that it isso. All that man perceives is internally present and not external to him or hismind. The focal point of the third guess that must be dealt with is Canone perceive or confirm the existence of an idea or object that is external tohim mainly - God?      on that point are three ways, Descartes explains, that one may come to theconclusion of an objects existence. The first is by dint of nature. The second isthrough feeling an object indep terminusent of ones will, for example heat energy and frigid.The third, and most elaborated upon is the point of cause and effect, or moresimply, the objective reality of an i dea. We will primarily deal with the thirdreason of cause and effect.     Descartes brings roughly examples to demonstrate his cause and effecttheory. More importantly, is the logic that lies behind the actual theory. Therationale that an object will have an effect is save if it stems from a rightful(a) cause. A stone, for example, cannot be perceived accurately if thereisnt an initial idea preceding with equal or superior properties in onesintellect. The mind generates ideas and develops reality through previousschema or beliefs as Descartes states"And although an idea may give rise to another idea, thisregress cannot, nevertheless, be in mortalwe must in theend reach a first idea, the cause of which is, as it were,the archetype in which all the reality that is foundobjectively in these ideas is contained formally."     Additionally, properties such as color, sound, heat, and cold are toocomplex in their nature for Descartes to dete rmine whether they are true orfalse. In other words, are the ideas that one has about a property true orfalse? Consequently, Descartes concludes that there is a common element betweenexamples like the stone and the cold. The cold portraying the unreal or falseobject and the stone as a true object. He contends that they both contain"substance" like man himself, and are therefore similar.     The only difficulty that arises is the consideration of Gods existence.There is no substance or idea for the notion of God to originate from. Thevalid question that Descartes asks is Is it conceivable that a finite beinghave the idea of an infinite existence?