Meditation III

Here is a formal way to see Descartes' progression of reasoning from the idea of the thinking subject to the infinite substance in the language of the text:

Meditation III

1. 'Cogito Ergo Sum' is an objective reality

2. The formal reality is equal to, if not greater than, the reality which exists objectively

3. The objective reality has an idea of perfection, though lacks perfection itself

4. 'Something cannot come into being out of nothing'

5. 'What is perfect cannot come into being from what is imperfect'

6. The formal reality must have caused the idea of perfection within the objective reality

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Therefore, the formal reality must be perfect