Originally Posted by kev67
According to an Open University text book, Social Science in Question, René Descartes proved God's existence thus: It is assumed that God is by definition perfect and that human beings are imperfect. This is tied to the idea of existence: human beings are mortal creatures whereas God is not subject to the laws of the life cycle. Therefore, a God which did exist was somewhat more perfect than a God which did not. The book proceeds to state that "By logic alone, it could be demonstrated that God did exist!"
I have a feeling this is somehow begging the question (i.e. a circular argument: A implies B, but B implies A). I have noticed that it is often difficult to pinpoint how a question is being begged, but you can sometimes tell by the feeling that someone is pulling a fast one.