Descartes

On a quick little side note....I like Descartes a little less now that I know he was responsible for the Cartesian Plane.  Bad math bad.
 
I think therefore I am
 
This statement kind of makes sense.  On one hand, it would be reasonable to assume that because you are thinking there is some sort of consiousness that *is*.  On the other hand, if you are nothing more than an illusion, or a pawn of some evil demon, how do you know that the fact that you think is enough to justify your existence?  Frankly I think the idea of a 'Light of Nature' is phooey, but I'll get into that later. 
 
Solipsism
 
Oddly enough, I've thought about this off and on since I was about 7.  I just didn't have a name before.  Do you ever get the feeling that you are the only 'real' thing out there?  I've often gotten a really odd feeling that I'm wandering around in some kind of dream where all the other people/things are nothing more than my own made up illusions.  Yet if this were a dream you would think I could imagine myself a mansion and convertible to come with it....  Do I honestly believe I am the only *real* thing here, no.  But it is interesting to think about.
 
God is Perfect and Infinite, Existence is Perfection
 
This is where I have my huge gripe with Descartes.  (Note** The following does not reflect my personal beliefs, which are just that....personal.  The following is just a reaction to the reading and my perception of Descartes' arguement.)  First of all, how do you know God is perfect?  As far as I know, everything we know about God has been handed down by man.  The Bible was written by men, every other religous text I've read was written by men.  Granted one could argue that they were 'inspired' by God, yet even with that point.  This leads to the fact that men are in fact fallible.  Even Decartes admits this.  If men are fallible, is it not possible that they made mistakes while writing down these religous notations?  Now I'm sorry, but unless Descartes had a conversation directly with God, and had it tape recorded, his arguement holds no water.  For example the evil demon mentioned earlier could have fed him that 'Light of Nature' claptrap which would throw his whole meditations out the window...  For that matter, what if God is perfect, yet is not kind or good?  Perfection does not automatically assume goodness.  In this case God could be perfectly decieving you, because he thinks that is what's good (or just because it's his idea of fun...).  I think my statement that Philosophy is the athiests religeon still holds water.  I was with Descartes until he threw God into the mixture.  It seems to me like he painted himself into a mental jail and used God as his 'get out of jail free' card...