end CUNYB/Clarke December, :
Notes to Pages– .The relevant text from Augustine reads: ‘So far as these truths are concerned, I
do not at all fear the arguments of the Academics when they say, What if you are
mistaken? For if I am mistaken, I exist. He who does not exist clearly cannot be
mistaken; and so, if I am mistaken, then, by the same token, I exist.’ Augustine
(),.
.Descartes acknowledged to Mersenne, December, that he had also asked him
about this passage and had repeated the request later (iii.), to which Descartes
replied with the reference toThe City of God. See also Descartes to Mersenne,
January(iii.,), and Descartes to Mersenne,April(iii.–).
.As Mersenne had noticed, there is not a word about the ‘immortality’ of the soul
in theMeditations. Descartes replied that he had aimed merely to show that the
soul is distinct from the body, and that philosophy could not support religious
belief any more than that. Descartes to Mersenne,December(iii.–).
Fowler (:) also points out that the word ‘immortality’ never occurs in any
of the six meditations.
.There is much less agreement about the general structure of Descartes’ argument
than this suggests. Here I draw on the analysis in Clarke ().
.Descartes to Reneri for Pollot, April or May(ii.). See also Descartes’
reply to Hobbes, where he argues: ‘Since, however, we do not know a substance
itself immediately through itself, but only by the fact that it is the subject of
certain acts, it is very reasonable and in keeping with common usage that we apply
different names to those substances that we recognize as the subjects of completely
different acts or accidents, so as to examine later whether those different names
signify different things or one and the same thing’ (vii.).
.The similarity with saint Anselm seems to have been pointed out by Mersenne, to
whom Descartes replied (December) that he would consult Anselm’s text at
the first opportunity (iii.).
.Morin’s book was published in Paris in, with the title (in Latin):That God
Exists, and that the world was created by him in time, and is governed by his provi-
dence. Some selected theorems against Atheists.In contrast with Descartes, Morin had
received official church approval for his work. Descartes told Mersenne,Decem-
ber, that he would not object to seeing Morin’s book (iii.). Mersenne
obliged by sending a copy to Huygens, for forwarding to Descartes (Descartes to
Mersenne,January: iii.).
.Descartes to Mersenne,January(iii.–). Descartes also thought it was
a mistake on Morin’s part to make claims about infinity, something he carefully
avoided doing himself, but that Mersenne should keep these criticisms confidential
because he did not wish to offend the author.
.The premise is that various ideas contain different degrees of intentional reality,
and that the degree of intentional reality present in any idea must be explained in
terms of its cause. Since the idea of God contains, intentionally, the reality of an
infinite being, it must be the case that such an infinite being exists. Otherwise, we
could offer no adequate explanation of how we came to have an idea of an infinite
being.