Single Idea 4165

[catalogued under 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito]

Full Idea

By taking Cogito Ergo Sum as the only certainty, and by his provisionally regarding the existence of the world as problematical, the essential starting point of all philosophy was found, and its true focus in the subjective, the individual consciousness.

Clarification

The 'Cogito' is Descartes' famous "I think therefore I am"

Gist of Idea

Descartes found the true beginning of philosophy with the Cogito, in the consciousness of the individual

Source

Arthur Schopenhauer (The World as Will and Idea [1819], I Supp)

Book Reference

Schopenhauer,Arthur: 'The World as Will and Idea', ed/tr. Berman,Jill and David [Everyman 1995], p.12


A Reaction

Some people think this was a disaster, not a triumph. Descartes could have doubted himself and accepted the world as his starting point.