Natalie Iannaci
Professor Bland
October 12, 2011
Philosophy
Meditations on First Philosophy is a book written by Rene Descartes a philosopher who attempts to prove Gods existence thorough six meditations. Descarte is very clear on his beliefs that one should never gamble on God and his existence is prevalent, and never be doubted. Throughout his book Descartes has begun by proposing a method to test old beliefs by starting from scratch. In his writing he uses the test of methodical doubt to test all beliefs, if the belief is not absolutely certain it will be removed. When Descarte is done writing his six Meditations he then sends his work to fellow philosophers who critic and provide feedback for Descarte to consider. Arnault was one of the philosophers who would read and critic Descartes writings. Arnault did a very good job of reading and providing objections for Descartes to consider. One Objection Arnault had was regarding Descartes theory of God and how God came into existence.
English: René Descartes, the French philosopher, ...
English: Original title page for the first Latin e...
René Descartes at workArnault's First objection to Descartes theory derives from Descartes's claim that "God stands in the same relationship to himself as an efficient cause." This claim is a fundamental point that Descarte says in the third Meditation. Descarte believes that God has more reality then anything else and you cannot get something with more reality from something with less. Arnault disagrees with this claim. He believes that Descartes is trying to imply that God has brought himself into existence. Arnault makes it very clear that "...there is a reciprocal relationship between cause and effect" Arnault further claims "we cannot conceive if something as a cause, unless we conceive of it as having existence; for no one gives what one does not have". Furthermore, if god was around to cause god, he does not need to bring...