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Single Idea 3634

[from 'Reply to First Objections' by René Descartes, in 28. God / B. Proving God / 3. Proofs of Evidence / a. Cosmological Proof ]

Full Idea

My inability to grasp an infinite chain of successive causes without a first cause does not entail that there must be a first cause, just as my inability to grasp infinite divisibility of finite things does not make that impossible.

Gist of Idea

We can't prove a first cause from our inability to grasp infinity

Source

René Descartes (Reply to First Objections [1641], 106)

Book Reference

Descartes,René: 'Meditations on First Philosophy etc.', ed/tr. Cottingham,John [CUP 1986], p.87