Descartes’ Fifth Meditation: Cogito and God’s Attributes
The Fifth Meditation delves into the attributes of God and the cogito. This exploration examines what can be learned from the external world, focusing on potentially different or confusing ideas about God.
Imagine the extension of bodies, considering length, breadth, and depth. One can list parts and assign magnitudes, figures, situations, and movements with various lengths to each. Distinctly imagine peculiarities belonging to numbers, shapes, and movements. While these things may not exist outside of oneself, it is clear that certain truths belong to them.
Descartes states in the Third Meditation that the discovery of the existence of “cogito” has provided a criterion of truth.
Criticism of Descartes’ Cogito
Descartes addresses criticism from Huet, who questions the truth of the cogito. Huet argues that the rule of evidence necessitates caution. Descartes, in his letter to Clercelier (July 1646), clarifies that the apparent existence of the cogito does not inherently establish a rule. The rule of evidence was tentatively inferred from mathematical methods, and the discovery of the cogito provides absolute justification for its application in all cases.
The existence of the cogito absolutely justifies the application of the rule in all cases, seemingly negating the need for divine legitimation. To clarify, Descartes asserts that any idea conceived clearly and distinctly by reason, to the point of being indubitable even under the hypothesis of an evil genius, must be true. However, reason cannot conceive any other idea as clearly and distinctly as its own existence.
Reason cannot conceive any other idea as clearly as to be true regardless of the existence of an evil genius. Therefore, Descartes ultimately requires God to remove the evil genius hypothesis and legitimize methodical rules. Only a perfect God, absolutely good and true, and the creator of our reason, can ensure that our reason is capable of reaching the truth when it acts accordingly and provides validated rules and methods.
Descartes presents the first two proofs of God’s existence in the Third Meditation.
Criticism of Descartes’ Proofs
- The idea of God, for Descartes, is innate. However, this does not preclude it from being “factual,” i.e., produced by the cogito in denying limits to the finite. The cogito could stem from a rough and imperfect idea of God, or from not fully understanding the meaning of “God.”
- Reason dictates that the cause of an idea must possess at least the same degree of perfection as the idea itself. However, as Descartes points out in the evil genius hypothesis, reason may err in discerning truth from falsehood.
- Descartes argues that God exists because God is the only possible cause that can justify the existence of the cogito and the presence of the idea of God. However, we cannot establish causal relationships as absolute and irrefutable truths.
Descartes could be criticized for falling into a vicious circle: using reason to legitimize the existence of God, and then using God to legitimize reason. Thus, the burden falls again on proving the existence of God through the ontological argument.