Mary asked:

What are the similarities and differences in Descartes and Spinoza's proofs for the existence of god,
and what purpose does god serve in each's system? From a confused thinker

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1. (a) Since both were Rationalists, they both used a version of the Ontological Argument for for the
existence of God.

(b) But what they proved were very different since they had very different concepts of God. Descartes'
concept of God was that of a transcendent being who was different from his creation, the world. But
Spinoza's concept of God was of an immanent being, who was identical with his creation, the world.

2. In Descartes' system, God's role is to guarantee that our clear and distinct ideas are true. More
generally, that people can know (for certain) what is true.

In Spinoza's system, God, who is everything, is the explanation of the world, namely God himself.

Ken Stern