Paragraph 5: Comparison of God's existence to the existence of a triangle

Descartes's did not just say God is perfect so he must exist. Of course that was one of his reasons but he also reasons God's existence by comparing it to a triangle's existence. Referring to a triangle Descartes says in the middle of paragraph 5, "...a triangle, it was necessary for its three angles to be equal to two right angles, but I did not see anything in all this to assure me that there was any triangle existing in the world......God, who is this perfect being, is or exists, as any demonstration in geometry could be." What Descartes's is trying to demonstrate is that we may have never seen a true triangle out in the world before but we still have the idea of a triangle in our mind and we know what a triangle is. So just because we do not see a triangle does that mean it does not exist? Or just because we do not see God does that mean he does not exist? Thus, he reasons that God exists just as any "demonstration in geometry" exists.
-Lindsay

Paragraph Four: God's perfection and our dependence

Descartes's firmly believed in God's existence and perfection. He thought that since God is perfect in his mind, God has to exist. How could a perfect idea exist in the mind of an imperfect being (Descarte's believed only God to be perfect and everything else imperfect)? The only way "an imperfect being" could think of the idea of a "perfect being" would be if a perfect being existed and enabled our minds to think of perfection. Thus, Descartes reasoned God must exist. Descartes's says in the middle of paragraph 4, "To this I added that, since I knew of some perfections that I did not posess, I was not the only being that existed, but that of necessity there must be something else more perfect, upon which I depended, and from which I had acquired all that I had." This brings up the topic of how Descartes believed every existence is dependent on God. At the end of Paragraph 4 Descartes says, "....if there are bodies in the world, or even intelligences or other natures that were not at all entirely perfect, their being had to depend on God's power in such wise that they could not subsist without God for a single moment." One can definately see how important the truth that God exists was to Descartes's method. His philosophy was dependent on God's existence.
-Lindsay