3 ms·

It's pretty commonly believed in the field, though my impression was that there's no definitive evidence.

• foldr 9y ago
  Is it really? I can't find any evidence of that. Could you link to an article or something that makes the case for his being an atheist?
  • hyperpape 9y ago
    Hmm, maybe I overstepped by saying it's commonly believed, but there were attacks in his own time, and there have been persistent questions. Perhaps it's all just rumor--I heard about the question from one of my professors who was a Descartes specialist, but I can't recall how seriously he took it. One point has been that the appeals to God in Descartes philosophy have seemed rather tacked on to many readers (the way they might be for an atheist writer operating in a very theistic environment). Mersenne argued that Descartes' system gave no reason to think our knowledge of mathematics depended on God, for instance. Edit: this is something I haven't thought about since a course a dozen years ago, so I wouldn't put much weight on my recollection (positive or negative).
    • foldr 9y ago
      >One point has been that the appeals to God in Descartes philosophy have seemed rather tacked on to many readers I don't see that at all. His entire argument in the Meditations collapses if God isn't there to provide a guarantee that he is not being deceived.