... upon the 'fundamental innate truths which God has implanted in us', and thus a certain and permanent structure of knowledge may be constructed. In the Meditations Descartes offers two arguments for the existence of God: the 'trademark argument' and the 'ontological argument'. It is the intention of this essay to consider both of these arguments in turn: to present them and then to critically evaluate their persuasiveness. From this evaluation we shall be able to conclude whether or not any of Descartes arguments for the existence of God are persuasive. I shall begin by considering the first of Descartes' arguments, the 'trademark argument'. The construction of this argument begins with the making of an inventory of ideas contained within us, among which Descartes has an idea of a "supreme God, eternal, infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, and the Creator of all things that exist apart from him." From this basis of an inventory ...

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