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Three of Diamonds
the ontological and a priori family

The Trademark Argument

Rene Descartes
Meditationes de prima philosophia (Meditations on First Philosophy)

The Trademark Argument, card face
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
  • infinite
Period
Seventeenth Century (1641)
Tradition
Cartesian

Further reading

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.

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