Descartes and the Existence of God Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Descartes and the Existence of God - Essay Example Descartes meditation about the existence of God cannot be used to serve as proof of the existence of an Evil Demon. This is because Descartes establishes a clear line of thought that is specific to his a priori existence of God. Central to his argument is the fact that his knowledge of God is anchored on a distinct idea on the existence of a supreme being (Marion, 2008). As such, there must be the existence of an idea first of all before a given claim of body of knowledge is verified. For Descartes, this distinct idea resided in his mind (Nolan, 2011). It is this idea that gave him the essence of God as a supreme being. It is an idea that could not be verified through empirical methods. The existence of an Evil Demon, in line with the thinking of Descartes, can only obtain if it is backed by a distinct idea. There must first exist the essence of the Evil Demon that is crystallized into Descartes mind in order for him to make a claim about the existence of such a being. One of the cen tral arguments upheld by Descartes is that essence implies existence. It would follow logically that the absence of essence effectively negates all possibilities of existence. Without the essence of the Evil Demon in distinct form it would be vacuous to assert any claim of such an existence. Therefore, this would mean that Descartes could claim the existence of God but refrain from making any assertions on whether or not some Evil Demon actually exists. Proof of such existence could be derived from.