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Philosophy

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Professor

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Explain one of Descartes’ arguments for the existence of God. What problem does proving the

existence of God solve for him?

Descartes states in one of his arguments that God is a perfect being, and this perfectness

explains his existence more before any claims of non-existence. He evidences God’s existence

by referring to himself as an imperfect being while referring to God as a perfect being. Descartes

further notes that he is not formally real before the actual truth of perfection, thus justifying the

existence of a perfect and formal God who is the source of his inherent notion of being perfect.

Proving God's existence solved Descartes's knowledge problems as he brought the idea and

picture of God in his daily aspects. Gaining knowledge of God's presence expands someone’s

knowledge and understanding of various life aspects (Frogel and Shai 93-108). For example,

Descartes' claims that the knowledge he acquired after proving and acknowledging God’s

existence aided him in the geometrical demonstrations.

What is Descartes’ method that he follows at the beginning of the Meditations? How does he

hope to find out what things he can be absolutely certain of?

Descartes begins by employing methodic doubts, whereby he rejects all barely certain

beliefs, whether established or not yet to be by terming them false. At this deconstructive phase,
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he acknowledges that not everything he doubts is wrong, but also makes that decision because he

holds that even experts are not always right (Parham and Karen 6-8). Descartes hopes to

establish things he is sure of by demolishing all prior beliefs and senses to form a foundation of

facts for ascertaining certain aspects. He then reconstructs his senses and opinions based on the

facts. This foundation aids him in shaping his ideas and thoughts and, later, eliminating doubtful

ones, thus remaining with the correct ones. For instance, he ends up believing that he exists,

ending his constructive phase.

What is the mind-body problem? Why is it a serious problem for Descartes?

The mind-body problem is a concept that explains the relationship between

consciousness and thoughts from the individuals’ minds and the physical body when they are

treated as distinct elements in one’s body. Descartes’ arguments had issues after indicating that

the mind and body are distinct and separable but failed to mention how they interact. He meant

that the immaterial mind could exist independently and think appropriately without it, whereas

the body cannot (Cavanna and Andrea 29-44). However, there are serious problems since

significant issues have been raised to dispute his position. For instance, brain damage affects an

individual's mental well-being, hence indicating that the body and mind do not exist separately

because if they did, brain damage would not affect the mental wellness of a person. Descartes

could not also explain how the mind and brain respond to different body reactions creating

further unaddressed issues. For example, when one goes unconscious, the mind does not alert

him or her that they are unconscious. Therefore, the body-mind interactions is a severe issue that

Descartes’ ought to consider.

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Explain Kant’s distinction between hypothetical imperatives and categorical imperatives. Why

does Kant think that morality cannot be grounded in hypothetical imperatives?

In his unique distinction, Kant described hypothetical imperatives as forces that dictate to

individuals the approach they can employ to achieve a particular goal. On the other hand, Kant

terms categorical imperatives as concepts that tell individuals what they ought to do to

accomplish a specific purpose. He also argues that categorical imperatives apply universally to

everyone, while hypothetical imperatives do not. According to Kahn and Samuel (403-405),

hypothetical imperatives give individuals options only to perform activities that make them

achieve their desired goals. Hypothetical imperatives, therefore, give immorality a chance in

individuals' lives as most people in the society mostly deviate from the acceptable and universal

norms in the among people to accomplish their desired goals. In most cases, the imperatives

encourage people to opt for non-universal behaviors and standards that favor their interests

without considering whether they are moral or immoral in particular settings. Thus, the

hypothetical imperatives promote and cannot ground the existing or upcoming immorality.
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Work Cited

Cavanna, Andrea E. "The Mind-Body Problem." Motion and Emotion. Springer, Cham, 2018.

29-44.

Frogel, Shai. "Descartes: Truth and self-deception." Philosophy 91.1 (2016): 93-108.

Kahn, Samuel. "Kant and the foundations of morality." (2018): 403-405.

Parham, Karen. "Meditating with Descartes." Philosophy Now 132 (2019): 6-8.