Descartes' Ontological Proof: An Interpretation and Defense

Abstract

It is widely assumed among contemporary philosophers that Descartes’ version of ontological proof, among other weaknesses, makes an impossible and unjustified move from the mental world of concepts to the real (actual) world of things. Contrary to this opinion I will try to show that Descartes’ famous principle of clear and distinct perception suffices to find an adequate inferential connection between the contents of the human mind and extra-mental reality. In a clear and distinct way we cognitively grasp the concept of supremely perfect being as the concept that we do not construct by an arbitrary definition of the word ‘God’.