Rene Descartes, MEDITATIONS ON FIRST PHILOSOPHY, Meditation 5

In Meditation 5, Descartes grounds the truth of his clear and distinct impressions about material reality in the certain existence of God, proven through his famous ontological argument for God's existence.

"because I cannot conceive God unless as existing, it follows that existence is inseparable from him, and therefore that he really exists: not that this is brought about by my thought, or that it imposes any necessity on things, but, on the contrary, the necessity which lies in the thing itself, that is, the necessity of the existence of God, determines me to think in this way: for it is not in my power to conceive a God without existence, that is, a being supremely perfect, and yet devoid of an absolute perfection."

And, if God exists, He is the guarantor of the truth of that which we doubted so carefully in these meditations:

"after I have discovered that God exists, seeing I also at the same time observed
that all things depend on him, and that he is no deceiver, and hence inferred that all
which I clearly and distinctly perceive is of necessity true: although I no longer attend to
the grounds of a judgment, no opposite reason can be alleged sufficient to lead me to
doubt of its truth, provided only I remember that I once possessed a clear and distinct
comprehension of it. My knowledge of it thus becomes true and certain."

Thus Descartes grounds all our knowledge in God's existence.

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