Descartes's Conception

Descartes' argument is a renewing on that offered centuries before by St. Anselm of Canterbury, who stated that conceiving of matinee idol was to conceptualize of something than which nothing greater stool be conceived, and such a thing cannot exist in the understanding alone.

An objection is brocaded to this argument by Caterus. He notes that any statement "X exists" includes both "x" and " public." The two are embodied in this statement essentially, for neither element can be interpreted away without the complex changing to something else. Caterus says that the distinct experience of God does not compel either element in this composite to exist unless it is assumed that the composite itself exists. He points out that up to now if o

ne has distinct knowledge of a unequivocal being, and even if the unconditional being includes existence as an essential part of the concept, it still does not assume that the existence is real unless it is assumed that the supreme being exists.

The verification is a tautology, leading in a circle. The mere particular that we can conceive of a supreme being and that the supreme being has to have existence does not mean that the supreme being exists. We could conceive of anything and ascribe to it existence as a necessary condition, but this would not bring it into being.

Descartes answers this objection by making a distinction between ideas which do not possess true and immutable natures and those which are invented and put together by the intellect. Ideas put together by the intellect can be taken apart by the intellect. An idea that the intel
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