♦ Three of Diamonds
the ontological and a priori family
The Trademark Argument
Rene Descartes
Meditationes de prima philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy)

DemonstrativeConcludes that something exists.
- Argument form
- Modus ponens (P2 is the causal universal; P3 excludes the self as cause)
- Concludes to
- Infinite or maximal being (an infinite being that placed the idea of itself in me)
- Premise ground
- Metaphysical (the cause of an idea possesses at least as much reality as the idea represents)
- Modal strength
- Actual
- What it licenses
- Period
- Seventeenth Century (1641)
- Tradition
- Cartesian
Further reading
- Source text, public domain
Meditationes de prima philosophiaoeuvresdedescar07desc.pdf - A scholarly account
Read an exposition of the argument - A principal objection
Read the objection in full
This formulation is ours, composed from the primary source and compressed to fit the card; the argument admits of other statements. Objections have been made to every argument in the deck; where one is linked above, it is chosen by us, not written by us.
ergocards.com/trademark
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