In support of Descartes’ epistemology, Lex Newman advances the ‘Non-atheistic-knowledge-
thesis’, i.e., indefeasible knowledge cannot be gained unless the existence of God is
proved. Here I expound the ‘non-atheistic-thesis-of-Cartesian-metaphysics’, which, unlike
Newman’s, refers to how four Cartesian metaphysical conclusions require the existence of
God. To test whether such conclusions need divine existence, we may ask what would happen
if God did not play any decisive role in the Meditations. As I argue, four unpalatable
consequences would follow for Cartesian metaphysics, which would ruin Descartes’ plan to
refute the skeptic and the atheist alike
