In his correspondence with Marin Mersenne 
Rene Descartes introduces his Doctrine of 
the Creation of the Eternal Truths (the 
Creation Doctrine).  Descartes appears to 
claim that the eternal truths, e.g., truths 
about essences, could have been false.  
While much attention has been given to 
understanding Descartes’ doctrine, relatively 
little attention has been paid to Descartes’ 
argument for the Creation Doctrine.  When it 
is discussed, the standard interpretation 
claims that Descartes’ account of divine 
simplicity plays a fundamental role in his 
argument.  In this paper, I develop an 
interpretation of Descartes’ argument for 
the Creation Doctrine in which divine 
simplicity plays no role whatsoever in 
Descartes’ argument and that divine 
omnipotence and Descartes’ account of divine 
freedom are Descartes’ motivation for the 
Creation Doctrine.  In fact, I argue, that 
divine simplicity is a second conclusion 
Descartes draws from the same considerations 
which lead him to the Creation Doctrine.