Descartes' Proof of God

The first argument that Descartes uses to prove the existence of God has been labeled the “Causal Argument” or the “Causal Proof”. It is so labeled because it relies mostly upon Descartes’ assumption that the cause of something must have more than or as much objective reality than the effect or product. For example, an animal cannot create something that is greater than an animal, such as a human. Much of the Causal Proof is also based upon Descartes’ definition of God, which is “a supreme deity, eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, and the creator of all things other than himself.”1 Essentially, God is a being who is

Descartes also presents a proof in the form of the “Cosmological Argument”. In this, Descartes begins by asking “Who created me?” He first looks at the possibility that he created himself. Descartes almost immediately rules out this possibility because 1) he is imperfect, and 2) he most certainly would have remembered creating himself, yet he has no knowledge of it. Therefore, he did not create himself. Descartes explains this by saying, “how would I understand…that I lack something and that I am not wholly perfect, unless there were some idea in me of a more perfect being, by comparison with which I might recognize my defects?”2 He then looks at where he derives his existence. He derives existence from his parents. His parents derive existence from there parents. Those parents derive existence from their parents, and so on. This regression, however, is not infinite. It does not go on forever, because parents, as well as the earth in general, have not existed infinitely. Therefore, somewhere, the regression will stop, and there must be some ultimate creator. As Descartes said, “no infinite regress is permitted here.”3 By this argument, Descartes has proven that there is some other being in existence that is greater than him.

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