erfect being to know what a perfect being actually is. It is impossible for an imperfect being to have an idea of a perfect being because only a perfect being knows exactly what to envision as a perfect being. Descartes claims to find in himself, among his other ideas, the idea of an infinitely perfect being. As a mode of a finite mind, this idea can have only finite formal reality, or reality as what it is. However, as the idea of an infinitely perfect being, it has infinite objective reality: that is, its object is infinitely real. For Descartes seems to have no plausible way of defending the crucial principle that the cause of an idea must have as much formal reality as the idea has objective reality. There is of course the problem of what exactly determines the degree of objective reality an idea possesses. (137 lines 1-7, 16-20 Wilson) Descartes states at the end of meditation three that God cannot be a deceiver because he is a perfect being, but to remove the deceiver hypothesis we must rely on something the hypothesis says we cannot rely on. Thus, if the idea of Gods omnipotence provides us with reason for doubting our mathematical intuitions, it seems to provide us with exactly the same reason for doubting any other intuition, including further intuitions about God himself. (131-132 lines 37-40, 1-2 Wilson) In conclusion Descartes, who may have been highly educated in his time, cannot compete with what modern science has shown for proof of evolution and the idea of spontaneous generation. Descartes perception and proof falls well short of bringing concrete evidence that God does indeed exist in the way as Descartes describes. Perhaps if Descartes wouldnt have so quickly jumped to the conclusion that God exists and accepted through the rest of his writings then he may have been able to find more solid proof that God indeed exists in one form or another. Although it is very easy to dismiss the existence of God there is truly only ...
