Decartes’ “Discourse on the Method (Part IV) discusses how Decartes sees truths as well as his methods for arriving at truths. Many consider this part of “Discourse on the Method” to be the most significant part of the work. He opens (Part IV) by discounting everything of which he is not absolutely certain to ensure that he does not harbor any beliefs in falsehoods. Then he begins to ponder the things of which he is absolutely certain. The fact that he is able to think, Decartes supposes, confirms that he exists.
Decartes uses this method of evaluating truths in order to verify the proposition that God exists. Decartes reasons that one proof that God must exist is that doubt can be cast on everything else. God is the only being or existence that doubt cannot be cast on. Therefore, God must exist.
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"Descartes ‘Discourse on the Method (Part IV)".
The ‘surprise ending’ that Decartes proposes to conclude (Part VI) is not baffling when one takes the time to consider it. Decartes has already decided that God is the one being or existence that must be true and that he is all-perfect because everything else can be called into question. If God is true, then it is God that gave people their ideas about other things in existence.
Therefore, Decartes concluded, all of these idea must have some basis in truth. This is not surprising after Descartes reach the conclusion that God is perfect and truthful and the being from which man originated. It man originated from God, some things that man thinks and believes have been given to him by God under Descartes’ reasoning. Therefore, these things must have some truth to them. This is a logical conclusion when one considers the way that Decartes arrived at ‘proof’ of Gods existence.
- Descartes, Rene. “Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting one’s Reason and Seeking Truth in Science.”
