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Single Idea 1401
[filed under theme 16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 7. Self and Thinking
]
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.
The
228 ideas
from René Descartes
16634
|
I can't be unaware of anything which is in me
[Descartes]
|
3634
|
We can't prove a first cause from our inability to grasp infinity
[Descartes]
|
3635
|
Essence must be known before we discuss existence
[Descartes]
|
3622
|
The Cogito is not a syllogism but a self-evident intuition
[Descartes]
|
3643
|
The concept of mind excludes body, and vice versa
[Descartes]
|
3626
|
Knowing the attributes is enough to reveal a substance
[Descartes]
|
3630
|
Our thinking about external things doesn't disprove the existence of innate ideas
[Descartes]
|
3631
|
A blind man may still contain the idea of colour
[Descartes]
|
3640
|
Possible existence is a perfection in the idea of a triangle
[Descartes]
|
3639
|
Necessary existence is a property which is uniquely part of God's essence
[Descartes]
|
3637
|
Ideas in God's mind only have value if he makes it so
[Descartes]
|
3621
|
Only judgement decides which of our senses are reliable
[Descartes]
|
3644
|
Two things being joined together doesn't prove they are the same
[Descartes]
|
4298
|
All items of possible human knowledge are interconnected, and can be reached by inference
[Descartes]
|
24018
|
One truth leads us to another
[Descartes]
|
24019
|
If we accept mere probabilities as true we undermine our existing knowledge
[Descartes]
|
24020
|
We all see intuitively that we exist, where intuition is attentive, clear and distinct rational understanding
[Descartes]
|
24022
|
Our souls possess divine seeds of knowledge, which can bear spontaneous fruit
[Descartes]
|
24021
|
The method starts with clear intuitions, followed by a process of deduction
[Descartes]
|
24023
|
All the sciences searching for order and measure are related to mathematics
[Descartes]
|
24024
|
The secret of the method is to recognise which thing in a series is the simplest
[Descartes]
|
24025
|
Clear and distinct truths must be known all at once (unlike deductions)
[Descartes]
|
24027
|
Nerves and movement originate in the brain, where imagination moves them
[Descartes]
|
24026
|
Our four knowledge faculties are intelligence, imagination, the senses, and memory
[Descartes]
|
24028
|
The force by which we know things is spiritual, and quite distinct from the body
[Descartes]
|
24031
|
When Socrates doubts, he know he doubts, and that truth is possible
[Descartes]
|
24030
|
3+4=7 is necessary because we cannot conceive of seven without including three and four
[Descartes]
|
24029
|
Among the simples are the graspable negations, such as rest and instants
[Descartes]
|
24032
|
Clever scholars can obscure things which are obvious even to peasants
[Descartes]
|
24033
|
Most scholastic disputes concern words, where agreeing on meanings would settle them
[Descartes]
|
24036
|
I can only see the proportion of two to three if there is a common measure - their unity
[Descartes]
|
24035
|
Unity is something shared by many things, so in that respect they are equals
[Descartes]
|
24034
|
If someone had only seen the basic colours, they could deduce the others from resemblance
[Descartes]
|
9807
|
In pursuing truth, anything less certain than mathematics is a waste of time
[Descartes]
|
3600
|
Slow and accurate thought makes the greatest progress
[Descartes]
|
3601
|
Most things in human life seem vain and useless
[Descartes]
|
1581
|
Greeks elevate virtues enormously, but never explain them
[Descartes]
|
3602
|
Almost every daft idea has been expressed by some philosopher
[Descartes]
|
3603
|
Methodical thinking is cautious, analytical, systematic, and panoramic
[Descartes, by PG]
|
3604
|
When rebuilding a house, one needs alternative lodgings
[Descartes]
|
3605
|
We can believe a thing without knowing we believe it
[Descartes]
|
1583
|
In morals Descartes accepts the conventional, but rejects it in epistemology
[Roochnik on Descartes]
|
3606
|
I was searching for reliable rock under the shifting sand
[Descartes]
|
3608
|
I can deny my body and the world, but not my own existence
[Descartes]
|
3607
|
In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain
[Descartes]
|
3609
|
I am a thinking substance, which doesn't need a place or material support
[Descartes]
|
3610
|
Truth is clear and distinct conception - of which it is hard to be sure
[Descartes]
|
3611
|
Understanding, rather than imagination or senses, gives knowledge
[Descartes]
|
3612
|
Clear and distinct conceptions are true because a perfect God exists
[Descartes]
|
3614
|
A machine could speak in response to physical stimulus, but not hold a conversation
[Descartes]
|
3613
|
Reason is universal in its responses, but a physical machine is constrained by its organs
[Descartes]
|
3615
|
Little reason is needed to speak, so animals have no reason at all
[Descartes]
|
3616
|
The soul must unite with the body to have appetites and sensations
[Descartes]
|
3617
|
I aim to find the principles and causes of everything, using the seeds within my mind
[Descartes]
|
3618
|
Only experiments can settle disagreements between rival explanations
[Descartes]
|
16686
|
God has established laws throughout nature, and implanted ideas of them within us
[Descartes]
|
16635
|
Incorporeal substances are powers or forces
[Descartes, by Pasnau]
|
16684
|
Impenetrability only belongs to the essence of extension
[Descartes]
|
4017
|
Descartes created the modern view of rationality, as an internal feature instead of an external vision
[Descartes, by Taylor,C]
|
2857
|
Since Plato all philosophers have followed the herd, except Descartes, stuck in superficial reason
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
|
1569
|
Descartes impoverished the classical idea of logos, and it no longer covered human experience
[Roochnik on Descartes]
|
7504
|
Modern science comes from Descartes' view that knowledge doesn't need moral purity
[Descartes, by Foucault]
|
17865
|
Descartes gives an essence by an encapsulating formula
[Descartes, by Almog]
|
6929
|
Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
6490
|
For Descartes, objects have one primary quality, which is geometrical
[Descartes, by Robinson,H]
|
6153
|
Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy
[Rowlands on Descartes]
|
16631
|
If we remove surface qualities from wax, we have an extended, flexible, changeable thing
[Descartes]
|
1585
|
Descartes tried to model reason on maths instead of 'logos'
[Roochnik on Descartes]
|
6347
|
Descartes can't begin again, because sceptics doubt cognitive processes as well as beliefs
[Pollock/Cruz on Descartes]
|
10054
|
Arithmetic and geometry achieve some certainty without worrying about existence
[Descartes]
|
2247
|
To achieve good science we must rebuild from the foundations
[Descartes]
|
1582
|
Labelling slightly doubtful things as false is irrational
[Roochnik on Descartes]
|
2249
|
It is prudent never to trust your senses if they have deceived you even once
[Descartes]
|
3619
|
The senses can only report, so perception errors are in the judgment
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
3620
|
We correct sense errors with other senses, not intellect
[Mersenne on Descartes]
|
2248
|
Reason says don't assent to uncertain principles, just as much as totally false ones
[Descartes]
|
2252
|
Surely maths is true even if I am dreaming?
[Descartes]
|
2251
|
Even if my body and objects are imaginary, there may be simpler things which are true
[Descartes]
|
2253
|
God may have created nothing, but made his creation appear to me as it does now
[Descartes]
|
2254
|
To achieve full scepticism, I imagine a devil who deceives me about the external world and my own body and senses
[Descartes]
|
3850
|
We discovers others as well as ourselves in the Cogito
[Sartre on Descartes]
|
3849
|
"I think therefore I am" is the absolute truth of consciousness
[Sartre on Descartes]
|
2256
|
Maybe there is only one certain fact, which is that nothing is certain
[Descartes]
|
2255
|
Only one certainty is needed for progress (like a lever's fulcrum)
[Descartes]
|
2257
|
I myself could be the author of all these self-delusions
[Descartes]
|
2259
|
"I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind
[Descartes]
|
2258
|
I must even exist if I am being deceived by something
[Descartes]
|
3160
|
The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge
[Rey on Descartes]
|
3623
|
The Cogito only works if you already understand what thought and existence are
[Mersenne on Descartes]
|
1117
|
The Cogito proves subjective experience is basic, but makes false claims about the Self
[Russell on Descartes]
|
1369
|
It is a precondition of the use of the word 'I' that I exist
[Ayer on Descartes]
|
2873
|
Maybe 'I' am not the thinker, but something produced by thought
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
|
5360
|
The thing which experiences may be momentary, and change with the next experience
[Russell on Descartes]
|
2870
|
'I think' assumes I exist, that thinking is known and caused, and that I am doing it
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
|
5188
|
A thought doesn't imply other thoughts, or enough thoughts to make up a self
[Ayer on Descartes]
|
3624
|
That I perform an activity (thinking) doesn't prove what type of thing I am
[Hobbes on Descartes]
|
4526
|
The Cogito assumes a priori the existence of substance, when actually it is a grammatical custom
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
|
5579
|
How can we infer that all thinking involves self-consciousness, just from my own case?
[Kant on Descartes]
|
5580
|
My self is not an inference from 'I think', but a presupposition of it
[Kant on Descartes]
|
5587
|
We cannot give any information a priori about the nature of the 'thing that thinks'
[Kant on Descartes]
|
5588
|
The fact that I am a subject is not enough evidence to show that I am a substantial object
[Kant on Descartes]
|
3120
|
Autistic children seem to use the 'I' concept without seeing themselves as thinkers
[Segal on Descartes]
|
2260
|
If I don't think, there is no reason to think that I exist
[Descartes]
|
3625
|
The 'thinking thing' may be the physical basis of the mind
[Hobbes on Descartes]
|
2261
|
My perceiving of things may be false, but my seeming to perceive them cannot be false
[Descartes]
|
3628
|
Substance cannot be conceived or explained to others
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
2263
|
The wax is not perceived by the senses, but by the mind alone
[Descartes]
|
3627
|
Dogs can make the same judgements as us about variable things
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
2264
|
We don't 'see' men in heavy clothes, we judge them to be men
[Descartes]
|
2265
|
We perceive objects by intellect, not by senses or imagination
[Descartes]
|
2266
|
My general rule is that everything that I perceive clearly and distinctly is true
[Descartes]
|
4301
|
Someone may think a thing is 'clear and distinct', but be wrong
[Leibniz on Descartes]
|
5685
|
True ideas are images, such as of a man, a chimera, or God
[Descartes]
|
5686
|
In some thoughts I grasp a subject, but also I will or fear or affirm or deny it
[Descartes]
|
3629
|
All ideas are adventitious, and come from the senses
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
2268
|
One idea leads to another, but there must be an initial idea that contains the reality of all the others
[Descartes]
|
2430
|
I can learn the concepts of duration and number just from observing my own thoughts
[Descartes]
|
2269
|
God the creator is an intelligent, infinite, powerful substance
[Descartes]
|
1400
|
Some cause must unite the separate temporal sections of a person
[Descartes]
|
2272
|
There must be at least as much in the cause as there is in the effect
[Descartes]
|
2274
|
The idea of God in my mind is like the mark a craftsman puts on his work
[Descartes]
|
2273
|
The ideas of God and of my self are innate in me
[Descartes]
|
2275
|
It is self-evident that deception is a natural defect, so God could not be a deceiver
[Descartes]
|
2276
|
The mind is a non-extended thing which thinks
[Descartes]
|
2277
|
Since God does not wish to deceive me, my judgement won't make errors if I use it properly
[Descartes]
|
2278
|
Error arises because my faculty for judging truth is not infinite
[Descartes]
|
2281
|
If we ask whether God's works are perfect, we must not take a narrow viewpoint, but look at the universe as a whole
[Descartes]
|
2280
|
Many causes are quite baffling, so it is absurd to deduce causes from final purposes
[Descartes]
|
2282
|
My capacity to make choices with my free will extends as far as any faculty ever could
[Descartes]
|
2283
|
Our 'will' just consists of the feeling that when we are motivated to do something, there are no external pressures
[Descartes]
|
2284
|
I make errors because my will extends beyond my understanding
[Descartes]
|
3636
|
God didn't give us good judgement even about our own lives
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
2285
|
I can think of innumerable shapes I have never experienced
[Descartes]
|
2279
|
A triangle has a separate non-invented nature, shown by my ability to prove facts about it
[Descartes]
|
2286
|
The idea of a supremely perfect being is within me, like the basic concepts of mathematics
[Descartes]
|
3632
|
We mustn't worship God as an image because we have no idea of him
[Hobbes on Descartes]
|
3633
|
We can never conceive of an infinite being
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
2287
|
Existence and God's essence are inseparable, like a valley and a mountain, or a triangle and its properties
[Descartes]
|
3638
|
Existence is not a perfection; it is what makes perfection possible
[Gassendi on Descartes]
|
5036
|
Descartes cannot assume that a most perfect being exists without contradictions
[Leibniz on Descartes]
|
2288
|
I cannot think of a supremely perfect being without the supreme perfection of existence
[Descartes]
|
2289
|
Nothing apart from God could have essential existence, and such a being must be unique and eternal
[Descartes]
|
2290
|
Once it is clear that there is a God who is no deceiver, I conclude that clear and distinct perceptions must be true
[Descartes]
|
3641
|
It is circular to make truth depend on believing God's existence is true
[Arnauld on Descartes]
|
4524
|
Descartes is right that in the Christian view only God can guarantee the reliability of senses
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
|
1399
|
Imagination and sensation are non-essential to mind
[Descartes]
|
2294
|
I can only sense an object if it is present, and can't fail to sense it when it is
[Descartes]
|
2295
|
Why does pain make us sad?
[Descartes]
|
2296
|
If pain is felt in a lost limb, I cannot be certain that a felt pain exists in my real limbs
[Descartes]
|
2298
|
Mind is not extended, unlike the body
[Descartes]
|
3423
|
Descartes is a substance AND property dualist
[Descartes, by Kim]
|
2552
|
Knowing different aspects of brain/mind doesn't make them different
[Rorty on Descartes]
|
4305
|
Descartes gives no clear criterion for individuating mental substances
[Cottingham on Descartes]
|
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]
|
2297
|
If I can separate two things in my understanding, then God can separate them in reality
[Descartes]
|
3642
|
Pythagoras' Theorem doesn't cease to be part of the essence of triangles just because we doubt it
[Arnauld on Descartes]
|
2301
|
We know by thought that what is done cannot be undone
[Descartes]
|
4861
|
Does Descartes have a clear conception of how mind unites with body?
[Spinoza on Descartes]
|
4862
|
Can the pineal gland be moved more slowly or quickly by the mind than by animal spirits?
[Spinoza on Descartes]
|
2303
|
The mind is utterly indivisible
[Descartes]
|
2302
|
Faculties of the mind aren't parts, as one mind uses them
[Descartes]
|
2305
|
Waking actions are joined by memory to all our other actions, unlike actions of which we dream
[Descartes]
|
3151
|
Descartes put thought at the centre of the mind problem, but we put sensation
[Rey on Descartes]
|
6907
|
For Descartes a person's essence is the mind because objects are perceived by mind, not senses
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
6914
|
Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist'
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
4641
|
In the Meditations version of the Cogito he says "I am; I exist", which avoids presenting it as an argument
[Descartes, by Baggini /Fosl]
|
13923
|
Descartes' claim to know his existence before his essence is misleading or absurd
[Descartes, by Lowe]
|
6930
|
Modern self-consciousness is a doubtful abstraction; only senses and feelings are certain
[Feuerbach on Descartes]
|
21800
|
Descartes mentions many cognitive faculties, but reduces them to will and intellect
[Descartes, by Schmid]
|
6540
|
Even Descartes may concede that mental supervenes on neuroanatomical
[Lycan on Descartes]
|
20190
|
Belief is not an intellectual state or act, because propositions are affirmed or denied by the will
[Descartes, by Zagzebski]
|
7733
|
Superman's strength is indubitable, Clark Kent's is doubtful, so they are not the same?
[Maslin on Descartes]
|
2601
|
Qualia must be innate, because physical motions do not contain them
[Descartes]
|
2600
|
The mind's innate ideas are part of its capacity for thought
[Descartes]
|
2602
|
What experience could prove 'If a=c and b=c then a=b'?
[Descartes]
|
4015
|
For Descartes passions are God-given preservers of the mind-body union
[Descartes, by Taylor,C]
|
4313
|
Are there a few primary passions (say, joy, sadness and desire)?
[Descartes, by Cottingham]
|
4016
|
Descartes makes strength of will the central virtue
[Descartes, by Taylor,C]
|
3654
|
The pineal gland links soul to body, and unites the two symmetrical sides of the body
[Descartes, by PG]
|
20037
|
Merely willing to walk leads to our walking
[Descartes]
|
23989
|
There are six primitive passions: wonder, love, hatred, desire, joy and sadness
[Descartes, by Goldie]
|
16763
|
We don't die because the soul departs; the soul departs because the organs cease functioning
[Descartes]
|
21962
|
Metaphysics is the roots of the tree of science
[Descartes]
|
3657
|
Understanding, not the senses, gives certainty
[Descartes]
|
3659
|
I know the truth that God exists and is the author of truth
[Descartes]
|
3660
|
Atheism arises from empiricism, because God is intangible
[Descartes]
|
3656
|
The greatest good for a state is true philosophers
[Descartes]
|
3658
|
Total doubt can't include your existence while doubting
[Descartes]
|
5004
|
We can know basic Principles without further knowledge, but not the other way round
[Descartes]
|
12730
|
We will not try to understand natural or divine ends, or final causes
[Descartes]
|
16601
|
Matter is not hard, heavy or coloured, but merely extended in space
[Descartes]
|
15987
|
Physics only needs geometry or abstract mathematics, which can explain and demonstrate everything
[Descartes]
|
5005
|
I think, therefore I am, because for a thinking thing to not exist is a contradiction
[Descartes]
|
5006
|
'Thought' is all our conscious awareness, including feeling as well as understanding
[Descartes]
|
5007
|
Most errors of judgement result from an inaccurate perception of the facts
[Descartes]
|
5008
|
The greatest perfection of man is to act by free will, and thus merit praise or blame
[Descartes]
|
5009
|
We do not praise the acts of an efficient automaton, as their acts are necessary
[Descartes]
|
5010
|
Our free will is so self-evident to us that it must be a basic innate idea
[Descartes]
|
5011
|
There are two ultimate classes of existence: thinking substance and extended substance
[Descartes]
|
5012
|
'Nothing comes from nothing' is an eternal truth found within the mind
[Descartes]
|
5013
|
A substance needs nothing else in order to exist
[Descartes]
|
16630
|
If we perceive an attribute, we infer the existence of some substance
[Descartes]
|
16633
|
A substance has one principal property which is its nature and essence
[Descartes]
|
5014
|
We can understand thinking occuring without imagination or sensation
[Descartes]
|
5016
|
Five universals: genus, species, difference, property, accident
[Descartes]
|
5015
|
A universal is a single idea applied to individual things that are similar to one another
[Descartes]
|
5018
|
Even if tightly united, mind and body are different, as God could separate them
[Descartes]
|
5017
|
In thinking we shut ourselves off from other substances, showing our identity and separateness
[Descartes]
|
16744
|
All powers can be explained by obvious features like size, shape and motion of matter
[Descartes]
|
22593
|
Our sensation of light may not be the same as what produces the sensation
[Descartes]
|
20964
|
Descartes said there was conservation of 'quantity of motion'
[Descartes, by Papineau]
|
16569
|
The Hot, Cold, Wet and Dry of the philosophers need themselves to be explained
[Descartes]
|
21963
|
It is possible that an omnipotent God might make one and two fail to equal three
[Descartes]
|
3652
|
I can't prove the soul is indestructible, only that it is separate from the mortal body
[Descartes]
|
3653
|
My Meditations are the complete foundation of my physics
[Descartes]
|
4736
|
Truth is such a transcendentally clear notion that it cannot be further defined
[Descartes]
|
3789
|
The more reasons that compel me, the freer I am
[Descartes]
|
12251
|
Substantial forms are not understood, and explain nothing
[Descartes]
|
16772
|
An angelic mind would not experience pain, even when connected to a human body
[Descartes, by Pasnau]
|
16712
|
Atheism is an atrocious and intolerable crime in any country
[Descartes]
|
6518
|
Matter can't just be Descartes's geometry, because a filler of the spaces is needed
[Robinson,H on Descartes]
|
19676
|
Nature is devoid of thought
[Descartes, by Meillassoux]
|
13445
|
Descartes showed a one-one order-preserving match between points on a line and the real numbers
[Descartes, by Hart,WD]
|
16774
|
Descartes thinks distinguishing substances from aggregates is pointless
[Descartes, by Pasnau]
|
6553
|
Descartes discussed the interaction problem, and compared it with gravity
[Descartes, by Lycan]
|
4310
|
We have inner awareness of our freedom
[Descartes]
|
7400
|
Descartes said images can refer to objects without resembling them (as words do)
[Descartes, by Tuck]
|