Existence of God Benedict De S
Existence of God Benedict De SExistence of God
Benedict De Spinoza vs. Rene Descartes
In Spinoza's view God is a substance that includes eternal attributes and their necessity. One of the proofs for existence of such a substance is that something does not exist if and only if something else prevents its existence. For example, people walk on earth instead of flying on it, because there are rules of gravity that prevent people from flying on earth. Gravity influences everything, which is on earth's surface, thus preventing us humans to fly. Because God is an eternal being consisting of infinite attributes there is nothing that could ever prevent its existence. And that is because for something to contradict God's existence it must have something in common with God externally, through which it can act on God. For example, a square circle does not exist because there are certain rules about the circle that contradict to the existence of it being square. Square circle and a circle have something in common because for one thing they both deal with circle. However, this is not the case with God. God is a substance that can be understood only independently, and can not have anything in common with anything else. Since there can not be anything in common with God, there is no external cause that can act on God; That is there is no external cause that can prevent God's infinite existence.
Furthermore, since God is a supremely perfect being his own nature can not contradict his existence. This part of proof is easier understood when one considers more closely the fact that God is not caused by any external forces. Things that were caused externally owe the qualities that they posses solely to their cause. For example, if there is a critical disease in the bloodline of one's parent the one's child may be at a great risk of having the disease. This, however, is not the case with God. First, because God is eternal and infinitely perfect. Secondly and mainly, because God is a self caused substance. Likewise, for God to self cause itself, its essence must include existence, or existence belongs to it nature. From this it is logical to conclude that God exists.
Descartes case in Meditation V for proving God's existence rests mainly on the infinite perfections that a thing has. Since God's nature involves all perfections, it also involves existence for existence is just one of the perfections that God has. This in its nature is similar to Spinoza's view. However, unlike Descartes, Spinoza explains why God essence must involve existence and provides more convincing proofs for God's existence. In fact Spinoza's reasoning of thought is basically based on his first reasonable-to-believe propositions about substance. The conclusion that Spinoza comes to is derived in most...
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