Proofs Of The Existence Of The Soul
Despite all the attempts of philosophers to prove either the existence of God and the soul or, instead, the falsehood of such assertions, there is still no united approach to these issues. Religious people believe in God and the immortality of their souls mainly without waiting for somebody to give them logical reasons for faith, whereas atheists are inclined to refute all possible arguments that aim at proving God’s existence. Thus, it can be said that humankind has not yet succeeded in discovering the truth about the Universe.
However, it is not a reason to give up any attempts to find a logical explanation, and the same questions still disturb the minds of scholars as well as ordinary people. It is natural that new attempts to discover the truth base on the achievements of earlier philosophers, whose works present a rich collection of both arguments and counterarguments. Descartes’ works are in the row of the studies that present one of the most famous and the most discussed argumentation in favor of the believers. A treatise Meditations on First Philosophy written by Rene Descartes in 1641 deals with the issues of the existence of God and the soul and distinction between mind and body. Descartes started with a single assertion that he found truthful – namely, that he is a thinking thing – and concluded that God exists and the soul is immortal. His arguments lie solely on logic, which makes them rather convincing.
Descartes’ goals and methods
In the preface to Meditations Descartes gives reasons for this intention to prove God’s and soul’s existence. He argues that these two issues should be demonstrated by philosophy rather than theology. According to Descartes, many irreligious people refuse to believe in God and soul “for no other reason than their claim that up until now no one has been able to demonstrate these two things” (Descartes 2), so he aimed at collecting the best reasons and presenting them in clear and exact manner.
To prove his assertions, Descartes used a method of systematic doubt, i.e. he assumed that everything he believed in earlier was incorrect, and tried to find a single basic true position upon which he later based all his further reflections. In the First Meditation, he assumes that the world was created not by God but by some malicious deceiver who imposed false ideas upon his mind. On this ground, he doubts everything he knows and tries to find at least one idea that is undoubtedly true.
Proofs of the existence of God and the soul
Starting point of Descartes’ argumentation
Descartes reasonably suggests that though he can doubt every thing in the world, he cannot doubt that he is doubting; thus, he exists (Descartes 18). Indeed, something inexistent cannot doubt, and the idea of his existence cannot be lies imposed by the malicious deceiver since if he would not exist there would be nobody to deceive. Thus, Descartes deduces his famous formula “I think therefore I exist” (Descartes 18). It seems to be very clear, logical, and hard to refute. Thus, he bases his reflections on a solid ground that gives additional weight to his arguments.
Developing this idea further, in the Second Meditation Descartes defines himself as a thinking thing (19), since the process of thinking is the only true quality of him that cannot be doubted. He concludes that thinking is the only thing that cannot be taken away from him, thus thinking is real. To support his idea, he gives an example of wax that is cold, solid, can be touched, and that becomes hot, liquid, and can hardly be touched if it is brought to fire (Descartes 23). Therefore, this wax is not a complex of its properties but an idea of wax. Thus, the things are perceived not with the help of senses but primarily by intellect; and nothing can be perceived as easily as the intellect itself. Therefore, it is existent.
Distinction between minds and bodies
Descartes goes further and distinguishes his body from his mind. In his preface to the Meditations Descartes indicated that he makes no distinction between the mind and the soul (5), which makes his arguments concerning mind even more interesting to us and directly relating to the subject of this paper. In the Second Meditation, he describes the body as something movable, flexible, and extended; something that occupies some space (Descartes 21). On the contrary, mind (or soul) does not take any space; it is a thinking thing. Therefore, bodies and minds are two different things. From this statement it can be easily concluded that minds (or souls) can exist without bodies, which we will discuss in detail later.
Proofs of the existence of God
In the Third Meditation Descartes proves that God exists. He starts with the assertion that ideas cannot be false in itself, but it is a mistake to view ideas of things as copies of things. He examines the origin of ideas. Nothing can emerge from nothing, and it leads him to the conclusion that the idea of perfection cannot emerge from an imperfect being. God is perfect and infinite, but these are not the qualities of mine, therefore, I could not create the idea of perfection and infinity by myself. Thus, it is obvious that it originates from God. Descartes thus proves that the idea of God is inborn; it is not derived from senses but was inspired by God (Descartes 34).
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