Linear Subjectivity and the Gradual Breakdown of Descartes' Proof that God Exists in the Third Meditation

The Meditations of Descartes have a property almost unique to them which I will call during the course of this paper "linear subjectivity." Lin ear subjectivity is the manifestation of any argument that is presented as purely a work of its author, drawn only from the perceptions and resources of that author (hence subjective), whose strength lies not in collaboration with the reasonings of others or in the use of empirical supporting evi dence, but rather in the author's careful, rational, linear progression from one of his ideas to the next throughout the course of the argument. It is this strategy, both subjective and linear, which Descartes employs throughout his Meditations, and in this paper it is my intention to show that there is a crucial place in the third Meditation, most notably, in which Descartes' otherwise largely successful use of this linear subjectivity suddenly and tragically breaks down, the point at which Descartes fails to convince argumentatively that it was God who put the idea of God in him, and that he did not create the concept himself. Before the crucial place of breakdown can be sufficientlyappreciated, however, it is necessary to acknowledge the special problems that linear subjectivity presents for Descartes—problems that do not trouble other, comparableworks—butat the sametime acknowledgethat for a fair amount of the third Meditation linear subjectivity does allow Descartes to pursue the foundation of trustworthy reasoning he was seeking. The breakdown of the third Meditation therefore is not inherently in the style of argument, but rather in what seems to be Descartes' eventual misapplication of it. If we begin our examination of linear subjectivity by noting how its absence af fects comparable philosophical works, we may immediately get a sense of both its advantages and disadvantages for Descartes when he uses it as a central part of the Meditations, especially the third Meditation. Most philosophical ideas are advanced in mediares, in the middle of a line of inquiry. Before the newest treatment of a philosophical idea is pro posed, its author pays tribute to some treatment (or treatments) presented