I. Descartes Methodic Doubta. A thing that thinks

i. A thing that doubts, affirms, denies, knows a few thing, is ignorant of many things, wills, rejects, and also imagines and senses

b. Senses and Imaginationi. Only certain that they are with me, outside which I am not certain

II. Certain and clear distinct ideaa. I am certain that I am a thinking thing but how can I be certain to others b. Before, I am certain of my ideas of the material things c. The truth is what I perceive is the idea of the thing and not the material thing itself. d. Hence, even I have a perception of the idea of the thing I cannot be certain that this idea

is the material representation of thing itself.e. I can be certain about geometry and arithmetic but still I cannot be absolutely certain

because there might be a God that is deceiving meIII. The deceiving God

a. A powerful God who, if he wishes he can cause me to be deceived.b. I am certain that I am not deceived

i. He cannot deceive me that I am not existingii. I am not certain that there is a God

IV. Is there a Goda. There is a need to explain:

i. If there is God, whether he can be a deceiverii. If I cannot be certain on God’s existence then I can never be certain to anythings

V. Before God: the order of thoughta. Some idea are like images of things

i. Man, chimera, heaven, angel and Godb. Some ideas are volition or emotionsc. Some ideas are judgment

VI. To where I commit mistakea. If ideas are considered in themselves, they cannot be falseb. It can’t be false in the will or emotions

i. Volition: decision to chose somethingii. Emotions: you certainly feel it.

c. It is only in judgment that I commit mistakei. my idea is in conformity with the outside thing – the most common mistake

VII. The origin of ideasa. Some are innateb. Some are derived from an external sourcec. Some are produced by med. The problem: I can tell of the origin of some ideas but I cannot be certain to their true

originVIII. Object of investigation: Those that are derived from an external source

a. What is the reason to believe that the ideas are similar to those objectsi. It is nature

ii. Will has no effect – I can’t resist to feel the heatiii. Hence, it transmits its own likeness

IX. Taught by naturea. Light of nature

i. From the fact that I doubt, I existb. Natural impulses

i. Less perfect than the light of natureii. There is no reason to trust that they are from outside source

1. Even if they don’t depend upon the will it does not follow that they are from an external source

2. There might be other facultya. Who knows these ideas are formed while I’m sleeping

3. Idea of the suna. From the sensesb. From astronomy

X. Blind beliefa. All this point that I believed not by certain judgment but by blind impulse that things

exist outside XI. Ideas are modes of thought

a. They are the same in a sense that they are ideas in themselvesb. Different as to what they representc. Objective reality -The content of an idea

i. God has a more objective reality than the three ii. formal reality – exist in its own

XII. The cause and the effecta. no effect can have a greater amount of reality than its cause.b. everything that comes into being must be made to be by something that has an equal or

greater amount of reality.c. Formal and eminent

i. Formal equal realityii. Eminent – greater reality

XIII. The cause of ideaa. There must be a greater cause than the ideab. There must be a greater reality if the cause of ideac. What is in the formal is in the objective, hence, no nothing

XIV. The ideaa. An idea can come from another ideab. But it cannot go to infinite regressc. The first cause of idea that contain all realityd. My ideas are like images that can not contain exactly the same as in the cause

XV. The outside causea. If the objective reality of my idea is such that I do not contain formally or immanently

then there I am not alone in this universe. There must be a cause of this idea who existXVI. Idea of corporeal – I can create it from me since I am a corporeal beingXVII. Idea of God

a. Proof Existencei. I have an idea of God

ii. God is infinite and independent substance, intelligent and powerful in the highest degree, who created me along with everything else

iii. This idea did not arise from meiv. God must necessarily exist.

b. Idea by negationi. My idea of God is not an idea trough negation of the infinite

ii. I clearly understand that there is reality of the infiniteiii. The idea of the infinite is prior to the idea of the finiteiv. The mere fact that I conclude that I am a doubting thing, hence, having

imperfection then i understand what is perfection which makes me to say that ay I am imperfect. Hence there is the embodiment of perfection as a point of comparison.

c. Idea as material falsei. God cannot be nothing for a perfect being cannot be nothing a contradiction

ii. My idea of God is the most perfect, the most clear and the most distinctd. I might be greater than I take my self to be

i. Perhaps the perfection I attribute to God might be attributed to meii. They are potential to me

iii. The mere potentiality of perfection is an indication that ay am imperfectioniv. My knowledge

1. Can never reach a point incapable of increase2. God is pure actuality and no other things can be added to its perfection.

XVIII. Can I exist without this perfect beinga. If I am the source of my existence

i. I am a Godii. I will not lack anything

iii. For I would have given all the perfection to my selfiv. I would not have denied myself

b. If I always existed and need not be cause to existi. preservation

ii. I depend on another Beingc. Not God but other finite being

i. There must be as much in the cause as there in the effectii. I am a thing that thinks and I have an idea of the most perfect being which is

God

iii. In itself is Godiv. In another is not Godv. No infinity

d. The perfect idea is from different causei. The idea of unity, simplicity, or the inseparability of all those things which are in

God is one of the principal of perfections that I understand to be in hime. Parents

i. They do not preserve meii. They did not bring me into being – a thing that thinks

iii. They merely place certain disposition f. God exists

i. I existii. I have an idea of the most perfect being

iii. God existsXIX. How I received this idea of God

a. I did not draw from sensesb. I did not produce – a cannot add or subtract anything from itc. It is innate in me, just as the idea of myself is innate in med. God had endowed me with this idea when he created me

XX. God is not a deceivera. Fraud and deception depends on some defectb. God is perfect c. Hence, he is not a deceiver