In the fifth mediation of René Descartes'
"Mediations on the First Philosophy" (titled: " On
the essence of material things and the existence of God once more") Descartes
finds the essence of material things to be extension, this train of thought
leading him to another proof of God’s existence, and explains finally the role
of God in his philosophy. Being a rationalist, Descartes reflects on how he can
discover truths by examining the essence of things, regardless of whether they
exist. Yet God is such (and the only such thing) that necessary existence
belongs to his essence. The concept of God contains within it the notion of
perfection and eternity and therefore it cannot not exist for non-existence is
opposed to perfection and eternity (see separate summary of Descartes' proofs of God).
So reflection on God’s essence shows that he exists, necessarily. (Descartes
warns us not to not to think that God’s existence depends on our reflecting on
this, God precedes our perception of it and in fact enables it). Observing
finally how it is not evident that the square of the hypotenuse of a
right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two
sides, Descartes remarks that once discovered, it should be that we do not need
to go over the proof each time to know this. So long as we have just clear and
distinct perception as a touchstone for truth, we could not avoid doing so. If
we have proved the existence of a benevolent God, then we have greater security
in our material reality. A conviction that a certain truth is evident because
we have once proved them is grounded by His existence. In other words, we don’t
need to worry about an evil demon constantly fooling us. We can therefore
engage in the practice Descartes calls science.
Descartes' meditation 5 is another step in reconstructing our image of
the world doubted in meditation 1. Meditation 2
and meditation 3
build a firm assurance of the self (the cogito) and of God. Meditation 4 discusses
our ability to know things, which when combined with God's benevolence can
assure us regarding the truth of our knowledge and ability to explore reality
(as long as we do it rationally and scientifically). The final step in Descartes'
Meditation 6 is to
discuss the body-mind distinction and our ability to know we exist as part of
the conceived material world.
back to: A summary by chapter of Descartes' Meditations
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See also: essential summary of Rene Descartes' Meditations
back to: A summary by chapter of Descartes' Meditations
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See also: essential summary of Rene Descartes' Meditations
