"Now as far as ideas are concerned, provided they are considered solely in themselves and I do not refer them to anything else, they cannot strictly speaking be false; for whether it is a goat or a chimera that I am imagining, it is just as true that I imagine the former as the latter." (Baird & Kaufmann 31) "Thus the only remaining thoughts where I must be on my guard against making a mistake are judgments. And the chief and most common mistake which is to be found here consists in my judging that the ideas ideas which are in me resemble, or conform to, things located outside me" (Baird & Kaufmann 31)Descartes formed an idea of God as an infinitely good being. He would have had to discover this idea within his own mind. According to his principle of universal doubt, he cannot simply know whether his conception of God is correct or incorrect, just that he has it. He would have, as a matter of his own principle, considered it as false until proven otherwise. Therefore, since the idea of God is in doubt, the trustworthiness of man's reasoning must also be doubtful.Another problem with his first proof is that he uses his powers of reason without first proving that they are beyond doubt. The validity of Descartes reasoning is supposed to flow as a consequence of the infinite perfection of God; and God's infinite perfect is made certain through the very same powers that he has not proven trustworthy. Descartes assumes the very thing beforehand, which he intends to prove afterwards. Descartes accepts the trustworthiness of his faculties in demonstrating the existence and infinite perfection of God, and that is illegitimate. A doubtfully valid faculty will produce a doubtfully valid argument, which will, in turn, produce a doubtfully valid conclusion. The entire argument for God's existence is therefore nullified by a suspect reasoning process. Descartes reasoning of God's existence hinges on his use of 3 principals: the Principal o...
