s he is an imperfect being. He does not have the capability of thinking of an infinite substance or a perfect substance, such as God, because he has lesser reality than these ideas and cannot be the cause of them. The only way these ideas could exist is if they were created by something of equal (greater being impossible, as infinite perfection cannot have a superior) reality. Because God is the only infinite Descartes can recognize at this state, it must be God that planted the idea in his mind.Descartes' first argument for the existence of God can be summarized as follows:1)I have an idea of a perfect being2)There are two forms existence- contingent and necessary3)Necessary existence has greater reality than contingent4)A perfect being must have necessary existence5)A perfect being must exist, if it has necessary existence6)Therefore, God exists(Notes)This allows Descartes to begin to gain true knowledge, because his perfect being exists and would not allow him to be deceived all the time because perfection does not allow for that behavior.In the Fifth Mediation, Descartes purports his ontological argument for the existence of God. It is simpler than his first and based on God's essence. For anything else that exists, the essence of that thing only implies it's existence. For God, however, essence is existence. God is perfection, and existence is a type of perfection. So an absence of existence would be an absence of perfection, which is impossible in God.Descartes' second argument for the existence of God is then:1)By definition, God has all perfections2)Existence is a perfection3)Therefore, God existsDespite his efforts to remove all imprecise information from his thoughts, Descartes' proofs of God have some errors, or at least shortcomings, that have been pointed out over time.One problem with his first proof is his idea of God. To see where the fallacy lies, an understanding of Descartes' understanding of ideas is needed....
