#31: Did Descartes Prove God’s Existence? John Cottingham

Can reason alone prove God exists? And did Descartes — the father of modern philosophy — actually build his entire system of knowledge on the existence of God?

In this episode of The Prometheans, Ali Zaka (AZD) sits down with Professor John Cottingham — one of the world's most influential living philosophers, Professor Emeritus at the University of Reading, Honorary Fellow of St John's College Oxford, and the translator of the definitive three-volume Cambridge edition of Descartes's philosophical writings.

The topic: Descartes, God, and the Search for Certainty in a Doubtful World.

We live in an age of radical doubt — about truth, about meaning, about God. René Descartes (1596–1650) faced the same crisis in his own time. His response was audacious: he decided to doubt everything — and then, from that rubble of uncertainty, build an entirely new system of knowledge. But here is what most philosophy courses get wrong: Descartes could not complete that project without God. The existence of a good and non-deceptive God is not a footnote in the Meditations — it is the keystone of the entire edifice.

Professor Cottingham has spent a lifetime correcting this misreading. In this conversation, we explore what Descartes was truly attempting, why certainty requires more than reason alone, and what this 17th-century philosophical struggle means for those of us navigating doubt and faith in the 21st century.