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Full Idea
Since I do not observe that any other thing belongs necessarily to my nature or essence except that I am a thinking thing, I rightly conclude that my essence consists in this alone, that I am a thinking thing, or substance whose essence is thinking.
Gist of Idea
Since I only observe myself to be thinking, I conclude that that is my essence
Source
René Descartes (Meditations [1641], §6.78)
Book Ref
Descartes,René: 'Discourse on Method/The Meditations', ed/tr. Sutcliffe,F.E. [Penguin 1968], p.156
A Reaction
This actually appears to be my favourite confusion - of episemology with ontology. Compare 'whenever I see him he is smiling, so he must be happy'. Personally I am happy to say that my essence is thinking, as long as it needn't be conscious.
5266 | It would seem that the thinking part is the individual self [Aristotle] |
1401 | Since I only observe myself to be thinking, I conclude that that is my essence [Descartes] |
2299 | I can exist without imagination and sensing, but they can't exist without me [Descartes] |
6907 | For Descartes a person's essence is the mind because objects are perceived by mind, not senses [Descartes, by Feuerbach] |
5017 | In thinking we shut ourselves off from other substances, showing our identity and separateness [Descartes] |
6721 | Ideas are perceived by the mind, soul or self [Berkeley] |
1352 | Thoughts change continually, but the self doesn't [Reid] |
5549 | Mental representations would not be mine if they did not belong to a unified self-consciousness [Kant] |