The Principle Of Reality And Its Effect On The Existence...

1) As well as there being an end to the causal chain, the cause must contain within it the reality and all qualities of that which exists, just like an idea must possess actuality or formal reality in order to exist. If an idea is more perfect than it’s possessor, that which is more perfect must have put it there. Just like physical causes of a stone containing what can be a stone in reality, it is applicable to the notion of ideas containing all that is reality or existent. This, although arguably non-transferable, makes an idea just as real. 2) This passage, for the most part, discusses what has been coined the Trademark argument, an attempt to prove the existence of God through an idea. Firstly, he forms what would come to be known as†¦show more content†¦The final cause is what the aim or purpose of the mug is, a successful receptacle to contain liquid. Finally, the formal cause, which intends to distinguish what makes the mug a mug, the features of this mug is its impermeable container, moulded cylindrically and its handle. Together these make the total cause, but all of them in different ways contain reality despite their different states. Descartes also discusses the apparent impossibility of an effect (in any form) not owing its reality to anything. Nothing cannot be the cause of something; for reality of any degree owes its reality to that which is it’s cause; and that cause contains or possesses the degree of reality (or more) that it produces. This is also how ideas work, according to Descartes. Ideas have been placed by that which produces those things and that which can conceive reality of. Just because an idea doesn’t contain physical, formal, or actual reality, its not any less real; it is simply a transferral of the reality. Before presenting Descartes given example, it is important to discuss the technical imagery he projects using terms like formal or objective reality. Reality is not a black and white subject; it can be broken down into degrees or types where some things appear to be more real, or contain more reality, than other. Formal reality is virtuous of what it is whether that is finite or infinite substances or modes, all varying in degree. It