Chapter 8 7. Geometrically prove the existence of God and the difference between human spirit and body

introduction Man is probable or contingent, i.e. there is always something lacking in his being, and only God can make up this perfection.Because God exists necessarily, he preserves and completes human existence.The existence of man and the existence of God are communicated through the idea: on the one hand it points to the free but inexorably perfect will; on the other hand it points to the substance which is the cause of its objective reality.God is the entity of absolute necessity.All entities are perfected by the absolute necessity of God.But why does God exist? The author proves it from three aspects: 1. The nature of God; 2. The objective reality of our concept of God; 3. The absence of human existence.Proving the existence of God also incidentally proves the existence of everything man can comprehend, including body and mind.It is because of God that the mind and the body are actually distinct entities.

definition 1. By thought (Pensee), I mean whatever exists within us so much that we have direct knowledge of it.Thus, every act of the will, of the intellect, of the imagination, and of the senses is thinking.But I add the word "directly" in order to exclude what is additional and depends on our thinking.For example, voluntary motion, though really having will as its principle, is not itself thinking. Two, idea (idee), I mean each of our thoughts as a form, because of the direct perception of this form, we have knowledge of these thoughts.Therefore, when I understand what I say, I cannot express it with any words unless I am sure of having in my mind an idea of ​​what I mean by my words.Therefore, images that are merely arbitrarily drawn, I do not call them ideas; I do not call them ideas when they are not, but only when they inform the mind itself of this part of the brain.

3. The objective reality of a concept, I mean the substantiality or existence of the thing represented by the concept, as far as this substantiality is inside the concept.Likewise, one can speak of an objective perfection, or an objective skill, and so on.For whatever we perceive to be in the object of the idea exists objectively or through representation in the idea itself. 4. When these things are in the object of the idea as we perceive them, they are said to exist formally in the object of the idea; But when they are so great that they can make up for this defect by their superiority, they are said to be eminently present in the objects of ideas.

5. Whatever is immediately inhabited by something else as its subject, or which we apprehend (that is to say, have in us some quality, quality, or property of its real idea) derives from it. And the thing that exists is called entity (Substance).For a substance is that in which exists formally or preeminently that which we perceive, or which is objectively in one of our ideas; , because the light of nature tells us that "nothing" cannot have any real properties. 6. The entity in which thinking directly resides is here called spirit (or esprit).Even so, the name is ambiguous, since it is also sometimes used to refer to wind and very thin liquids; though I do not know of a better name.

7. The immediate subject who is extension and the properties presupposed by extension (such as shape, position, movement of place, etc.) is called body (or flesh, body corps).However, to know whether the substance called mind is at the same time the substance called body, or whether they are two distinct substances, is left for a later study. 8. That entity which we understand to be supremely perfect, in which we cannot comprehend any imperfection or limitation of perfection, is called God (Dieu). 9. When we say that a certain property is contained in the nature of a thing, or in its concept, it is the same as when we say that this property is really a property of the thing, and that we can be sure that it is in the thing.

10. Two substances are actually different when one of them can exist without the other. Require First, I ask my readers to consider that the reasons which have hitherto led them to believe in their senses are very feeble, and the judgments which they have hitherto relied on them are very doubtful.I ask them to think about it long and often, till at last they are accustomed to trust their senses no longer so strongly; for I think this is necessary to be able to know the truth of metaphysical things.Metaphysical things do not depend on the senses. Secondly, I ask them to consider their own minds, and all their attributes, which they shall see, and which they must never doubt, though they assume as utterly false what they have hitherto acquired through the senses. of.I ask them to keep thinking about this point, until they are first accustomed to apprehend it clearly, and believe it to be easier to know than anything bodily.

Thirdly, I ask them to devote themselves to those propositions which can be known without proof, and in which every concept is found in itself.For example: a thing cannot simultaneously be and not be; "nothing" cannot be the efficient cause of anything, and so on.I ask them to make use of this intellectual clarity which nature has given them, which is so often obscured by the disturbances of the senses.I say that I ask them to use this intellectual clarity which is quite pure and freed from their prejudices, because in this way the truth of the axioms to be spoken of later will appear to them quite clearly. .

Fourthly, I ask them to study the idea of ​​some nature (or nature), which contains a sum of many properties, such as the property of a triangle, quadrilateral or other shapes; such as the quality of spirit. , the nature of the physical body, plus the nature of God or a supremely perfect being.They will note that one can believe with certainty that all those things are in the ideas, and we clearly understand that they are contained therein.For example, since the property of a straight line triangle contains the sum of the triangles equal to two right angles, the property of an object or an extended thing contains decomposability (because any extended thing, no matter how small it is , we all understand that it is not indivisible, at least it can be divided by thinking), so it is not wrong to say that the sum of all straight triangles and triangles is equal to two right angles, and all objects can be divided.

Fifthly, I ask them to go on for a long time to think about the nature of the supreme and perfect being, and I also ask them to consider that although in the idea of ​​all other qualities there is a possible existence, yet in the idea of ​​​​God , contains not only possible existence, but also absolutely necessary existence.For, from this alone, they can recognize the existence of God absolutely without reasoning.Obviously, it will be equally clear and distinct to them, that it will not be necessary to prove that two is even, three is odd, and so on.Because some things can be known in this way without proof for some people, but for others, it takes a long argument and reasoning to understand.

Sixth, To require them, after careful consideration of the instances of a clear and distinct perception which I have given in the Meditations, and the instances of a vague and indistinct perception, to accustom them to distinguish between things and obscure things; for it is better to explain by examples than by laws, and I think that no example can be given without talking about something. Seventh, I ask the readers that since they notice that they never recognize any falsity in what they apprehend clearly, on the contrary, except by chance, they never find any falsity in what they apprehend dimly. True, therefore they consider that if they should doubt what the intellect perceives clearly and distinctly, by some prejudice of the senses, or by some presumption made by pleasure, and founded upon something obscure, That makes no sense.In this way they will readily regard the following axioms as true and beyond doubt, though I admit that many of them could be explained better if I were willing to be more precise, and should not be Not as an axiom, but as a theorem, if I will then.

axiom or common concept 1. There is nothing that exists that cannot be questioned by what causes it to exist.For even God may ask why he exists; not because he needs any cause for his existence, but because the immensity of his nature is itself the cause, or the reason for his being without any cause. Two, the present time does not depend on the time immediately before it; that's why saving a thing requires one as large as the initial creation of the thing. 3. Nothing, or any perfection of this actually existing thing, can have nothing or a non-existing thing as the cause of its existence. 4. All reality or perfection in a thing exists formally or preeminently in its first or general cause. 5. The objective reality of our ideas thus requires a cause in which the objective reality of our ideas is contained not only objectively, but also formally or preeminently.It must be observed that it is extremely necessary to accept this axiom, upon which the knowledge of all things, whether sensible or insensible, depends.For, for example, how do we know that there is?Is it because we see it?But if "seeing" is not an idea (I mean, not an idea inherent in the mind itself) but an arbitrarily drawn image, it does not involve the mind; and if we do not assume that any idea should have a The cause of objective reality, this cause really exists, then we cannot conclude that heaven exists from this concept; this reason makes us conclude that this is heaven, and the same goes for other things. 6. There are different degrees of reality or substance, for substances have more reality than accidents or modes, and infinite substances have more reality than finite substances.Hence there is more objective reality in substances than in accidents, and more objective reality in infinite substances than in finite ones. 7. The will is voluntary and free (because this is its essence), but it is necessary to advance towards the good it knows.This is why, if it recognizes certain perfections which it does not have, it will at once give them to itself, if it is within its power.For it will realize that it is a greater good to have these perfections than not to have them. 8. Since you can do more or more difficult things, you can do less or easier things. 9. To create or preserve a substance is greater and more difficult than to create or preserve its attributes or characteristics; but to create a thing is no greater and more difficult than to preserve a thing, as has been said. 10. The idea or concept of every thing contains existence, because we can understand something only in the form of an existing thing; but the difference is that in the concept of a finite thing, only possible or contingent existence, while in the concept of a supremely perfect being there is full and necessary existence. Proposition one Considering God's nature alone, His existence can be known. To prove that a certain property is contained in the nature of a thing, or in its conception, is the same as saying that this property really belongs to the thing. One can be sure that it is in this Things inside (see definition 9).And the necessary existence is contained in the nature of God or in the concept of God (see axiom 10).So the necessary existence is in God, or God exists.This syllogism is the same one I have used in my reply to the sixth of these objections (referring to the second group of objections--translator); Yes, as stated in the fifth requirement.However, since such a great spiritual clarity is not easily attained, we have tried to prove it in other ways. Proposition 2 Proving the existence of God by the end, that is, from the mere idea of ​​God being in us, proves that the objective reality of every idea of ​​ours requires a cause, not objectively but formally or eminently Included in this reason (see Axiom 5).And in us there is the idea of ​​God (see Definitions 2 and 8), and the objective reality of this idea is neither formally nor preeminently contained in us (see Axiom 6), it can only be contained in God himself , cannot be included in other things (see Definition 8). Therefore, the idea of ​​God in us requires God as its cause, and therefore God exists (see Axiom 3). Proposition three To prove the existence of God by our own existence with the concept of God If I have the power to preserve myself, I have more reason to think that I will also have the power to give myself all the perfection that I lack (by Axiom 8 , 9); for these perfections are but properties of substances, and I am a substance.But I am not in a position to give me all perfections; for otherwise I would already have them (by axiom VII).So I did not preserve my own integrity.Then, while I exist, I cannot exist (by axioms 1 and 2) unless I am preserved by myself (if I have the power to do so), or by someone else who has the power to do so. And I exist, but I am incapable of preserving myself, as I have just demonstrated.So I was saved by someone else.Moreover, the man from whom I am preserved has in him, formally or eminently, everything that is in me (by axiom 4).And I have in me many ideas or concepts of perfection and the concept of God (by definitions two and eight) that I lack.So these conceptions of perfection are also in the person from whom I am preserved. Finally, the man from whom I am preserved cannot have any conception of perfection that he lacks (that is, that he himself possesses formally or eminently). (by Axiom VII); for, as I have just said, being capable of preserving me, if he has not those perfections, it is all the more reason to think that he has power to give them to himself (Axioms VIII, IX ).And he has the conception of all the perfections that I lack and that I appreciate can exist only in God Himself, as I have just demonstrated.So he already has all perfections in himself, formally or eminently, and therefore he is God.God created the heavens and the earth, and all that is contained therein; besides this, he can make all that we can clearly understand, as we understand it. Show that all these things follow clearly from the preceding proposition.For there we prove the existence of God, because there must exist a being in which, formally or preeminently, all perfections of which we have our ideas are contained. And we have in us the idea of ​​a very great power, not only the heavens, the earth, etc., but everything else that we understand as possible should also have been created by the one who has the idea of ​​this very great power. So, in proving the existence of God, we also prove all these things. Proposition 4 The fact that the spirit and the flesh are different proves that everything we clearly understand may have been made by God as we understand it (according to the previous relationship).However, we understand very clearly the mind (that is, a thinking entity) without the body (that is, an extended entity, according to requirement two); It's also clearly understood (something everyone readily agrees on).So, at least because of the omnipotence of God, the spirit can exist without the body, and the body can exist without the spirit. Now, these two entities that can be separated from each other are actually distinct (by definition 10).And the mind and the body are two entities (by definition 5, 6, 7) inseparable from each other (as I have just demonstrated).So there is actually a difference between mind and body.It must be noted that I have here used the omnipotence of God in my proof; not because any special power was required to separate the mind from the body, but because in the foregoing propositions I have only spoken of God himself, and I have From God no proof can be given elsewhere.And it doesn't matter much to know by what power two things are separated.