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Single Idea 23659
[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
]
Full Idea
If any man could be found so frantic as to deny that he thinks, while he is conscious of it, I may wonder, I may laugh, or I may pity him, but I cannot reason the matter with him.
Gist of Idea
If someone denies that he is thinking when he is conscious of it, we can only laugh
Source
Thomas Reid (Essays on Intellectual Powers 6: Judgement [1785], 5)
Book Ref
Reid,Thomas: 'Inquiry and Essays', ed/tr. Beanblossom /K.Lehrer [Hackett 1983], p.267
A Reaction
An example of the influence of Descartes' Cogito running through all subsequent European philosophy. There remain the usual questions about personal identity which then arise, but Reid addresses those.
The
30 ideas
with the same theme
[Descartes' claim that his own existence is self-evidently and necessary]:
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451
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Thinking implies existence, because thinking depends on it
[Parmenides]
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2573
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To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence
[Aristotle]
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3912
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I must exist in order to be mistaken, so that even if I am mistaken, I can't be wrong about my own existence
[Augustine]
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3622
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The Cogito is not a syllogism but a self-evident intuition
[Descartes]
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24020
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We all see intuitively that we exist, where intuition is attentive, clear and distinct rational understanding
[Descartes]
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24031
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When Socrates doubts, he know he doubts, and that truth is possible
[Descartes]
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3607
|
In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain
[Descartes]
|
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6929
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Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
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3849
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"I think therefore I am" is the absolute truth of consciousness
[Sartre on Descartes]
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2258
|
I must even exist if I am being deceived by something
[Descartes]
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2259
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"I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind
[Descartes]
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3160
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The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge
[Rey on Descartes]
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2260
|
If I don't think, there is no reason to think that I exist
[Descartes]
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6914
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Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist'
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
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4641
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In the Meditations version of the Cogito he says "I am; I exist", which avoids presenting it as an argument
[Descartes, by Baggini /Fosl]
|
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3658
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Total doubt can't include your existence while doubting
[Descartes]
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5005
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I think, therefore I am, because for a thinking thing to not exist is a contradiction
[Descartes]
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5006
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'Thought' is all our conscious awareness, including feeling as well as understanding
[Descartes]
|
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12564
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I am as certain of the thing doubting, as I am of the doubt
[Locke]
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12905
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I cannot think my non-existence, nor exist without being myself
[Leibniz]
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23659
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If someone denies that he is thinking when he is conscious of it, we can only laugh
[Reid]
|
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15636
|
The Cogito is at the very centre of the entire concern of modern philosophy
[Hegel]
|
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15611
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I develop philosophical science from the simplest appearance of immediate consciousness
[Hegel, by Hegel]
|
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4165
|
Descartes found the true beginning of philosophy with the Cogito, in the consciousness of the individual
[Schopenhauer]
|
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21220
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The physical given, unlike the mental given, could be non-existing
[Husserl]
|
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5359
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Descartes showed that subjective things are the most certain
[Russell]
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21862
|
Consciousness is based on 'I can', not on 'I think'
[Merleau-Ponty]
|
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3828
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Thinking must involve a self, not just an "it"
[Searle]
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8221
|
We cannot judge the Cogito. Must we begin? Must we start from certainty? Can 'I' relate to thought?
[Deleuze/Guattari]
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3881
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In the Cogito argument consciousness develops into self-consciousness
[Scruton]
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