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Single Idea 2573
[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
]
Full Idea
To be conscious that we are perceiving or thinking is to be conscious of our existence (for we have seen that existence is sensation or thought).
Gist of Idea
To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence
Source
Aristotle (Nicomachean Ethics [c.334 BCE], 1170a32)
Book Ref
Aristotle: 'Ethics (Nicomachean)', ed/tr. ThomsonJ A K/TredennickH [Penguin 1976], p.306
A Reaction
A lovely glimpse of Descartes' Cogito, which was made more explicit by Augustine. Is an animal (which presumably perceives) conscious of its existence?
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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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