René Descartes and Immanuel Kant were two profoundly deep thinkers who shaped and developed the history of modern European philosophy. This article will explore these men’s ideas and philosophies on the existence and nature of God. Although Kant and Descartes had different views on God, they both presented compelling cases for their respective views. To begin, we will examine René Descartes and his philosophy as he preceded Kant. We will dive into Descartes’ mind and investigate his conclusions and how he reached them. Then we will move onto Kant and discuss his ideas on the existence and nature of God. We will also examine Kant’s view of Descartes’ conclusions. Lastly, we will discuss Kant’s ideas of how to live a virtuous life.
René Descartes on God
In an effort to reveal what was true about the nature of the universe and God, René Descartes wrote six meditations collectively called Meditations on First Philosophy. In his third meditation, Descartes addresses the existence and nature of God through a rationalist point of view. Descartes’ approach was largely based on his understanding of clear and distinct ideas. These ideas are self-evident and cannot be logically doubted. Descartes sees clear and distinct ideas as similar to innate ideas. Innate ideas, according to Descartes, are ideas that have no external cause and are not created by the mind; rather there are there from the start. Descartes argues that our universal human understanding of God is an innate idea. This argument is known as the ontological argument and states that God is an innate idea because a finite mind could not imagine an infinite being; only an infinite being could create the idea of itself within a finite mind. In other words, the finite mind of man is not capable of conceiving of an omnipotent being unless that being put the idea of its own existence into the mind of man. Therefore, according to Descartes, since the human mind is capable of perceiving an infinite being it must be the case that such a being exists.
Descartes famously supported his views by saying that it is impossible to imagine a triangle without three sides; in this same way, it is impossible to imagine God without God existing. Descartes ponders the possibility of God not existing and asks himself how could it be possible that he came to be if God did not exist. Descartes came up with three possible conclusions. The first is that Descartes is the creator of his own existence. Descartes rejects this idea because if he created himself, he would have not made himself with so many limitations. The second is that Descartes was created by a source that is not God. Again, Descartes rejects this idea because it leads to an infinite regress — what created the creator? The third possible conclusion is that Descartes was created by his parents. Descartes acknowledges that parents are responsible for the physical creation of their children, however, there is still an infinite regress problem — what created his parents, grandparents, and ancestors. After rejecting all three conclusions, Descartes realizes the necessity of an infinite being and returns to the ontological argument. Descartes concludes that the idea of an infinite being is necessary for understanding the existence of the world.
“By ‘God’, I understand, a substance which is infinite, independent, supremely intelligent, supremely powerful, and which created both myself and everything else that may exist. All these attributes are such that, the more carefully I concentrate on them, the less possible it seems that they could have originated from me alone. So, from what has been said it must be concluded that God necessarily exists.” ~ René Descartes
Immanuel Kant on God
In his book, Critique of Pure Reason, Immanuel Kant sought to define the limitations of metaphysics and address the existence of God through a purely logical and rational approach. Kant did not believe there was any evidence to support the existence of God in the traditional sense. Furthermore, Kant sought to find a way that humans could live meaningful and virtuous lives without religious influence. In Critique of Pure Reason, Kant argues that the ontological argument put forth by preceding philosophers is faulty. This is because the ontological argument presupposes that the existence of God is a predicate when in fact it is not. A predicate can be defined as any properties that an object may or may not possess. Kant believes that existence is not a predicate and should never be used as such. This is because existence does not add to the concept of something, rather an existence relies on a posteriori evidence to be affirmed. Since existence is one of the pillars upon which the ontological argument stands, Kant sees the aforementioned evidence as sufficient to refute the ontological argument. Kant goes on to acknowledge and criticize Descartes’ triangle argument, claiming that although he cannot conceive of a triangle without three sides, he can conceive of a world without God. Therefore Kant claims that the idea of God is not logically necessary.
Although Immanuel Kant did not find any evidence to support the existence of God, he actually endorsed God’s existence and the idea of an immortal human soul. This was because Kant believed that the highest ideal people can strive for is “summum bonum” which means to attain happiness as a result of virtue and moral excellence. Kant believed that virtue is rewarded with happiness. However, in this life, virtue is not always rewarded with happiness. Therefore, Kant postulated that it must be the case that there is a God who has the ability to reward virtue with happiness in a “future life”. As a result, Kant believed that the best way to live a virtuous life is to act as if God exists.
“Men will not understand … that when they fulfill their duties to men, they fulfill thereby God’s commandments; that they are consequently always in the service of God, as long as their actions are moral, and that it is absolutely impossible to serve God otherwise.” ~ Immanuel Kant
Concluding Thoughts
René Descartes and Immanuel Kant were deeply influential Enlightenment philosophers with intriguing ideas about the existence and nature of God. Descartes saw the existence of God as an innate idea and believed that there is sufficient evidence to prove the existence of God. Kant disagreed with Descartes’ method for reaching his conclusions about the existence of God. Kant thought that the ontological argument and Descartes triangle argument were severely flawed. Rather than focusing on proving the existence of God, Kant was engaged in understanding how people can live up to their highest ideals without religious intervention. Kant concluded that belief in the existence of God and the eternal soul yields positive results and will urge people to strive for moral excellence in this life. Although Descartes and Kant had conflicting views on the ontological argument, they both arrived at a similar conclusion — belief in the existence of God. Both of these men were subject to theological controversy during the times in which they lived. It took great courage to put forth their ideas — ideas that have shaped and developed the history of modern European philosophy.
-Oliver Krentzman