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Single Idea 3160
[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
]
Full Idea
The Cogito is a transcendental argument; Descartes doesn't claim that it is a priori that he exists, but that any doubt or denial that he exists would presuppose his existence.
Gist of Idea
The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge
Source
comment on René Descartes (Meditations [1641], §2.26) by Georges Rey - Contemporary Philosophy of Mind 3.2.1
Book Ref
Rey,Georges: 'Contemporary Philosophy of Mind' [Blackwell 1997], p.78
The
30 ideas
with the same theme
[Descartes' claim that his own existence is self-evidently and necessary]:
451
|
Thinking implies existence, because thinking depends on it
[Parmenides]
|
2573
|
To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence
[Aristotle]
|
3912
|
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]
|
3622
|
The Cogito is not a syllogism but a self-evident intuition
[Descartes]
|
24020
|
We all see intuitively that we exist, where intuition is attentive, clear and distinct rational understanding
[Descartes]
|
24031
|
When Socrates doubts, he know he doubts, and that truth is possible
[Descartes]
|
3607
|
In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain
[Descartes]
|
6929
|
Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
3849
|
"I think therefore I am" is the absolute truth of consciousness
[Sartre on 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]
|
2260
|
If I don't think, there is no reason to think that I exist
[Descartes]
|
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]
|
3658
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Total doubt can't include your existence while doubting
[Descartes]
|
5005
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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]
|
12564
|
I am as certain of the thing doubting, as I am of the doubt
[Locke]
|
12905
|
I cannot think my non-existence, nor exist without being myself
[Leibniz]
|
23659
|
If someone denies that he is thinking when he is conscious of it, we can only laugh
[Reid]
|
15636
|
The Cogito is at the very centre of the entire concern of modern philosophy
[Hegel]
|
15611
|
I develop philosophical science from the simplest appearance of immediate consciousness
[Hegel, by Hegel]
|
4165
|
Descartes found the true beginning of philosophy with the Cogito, in the consciousness of the individual
[Schopenhauer]
|
21220
|
The physical given, unlike the mental given, could be non-existing
[Husserl]
|
5359
|
Descartes showed that subjective things are the most certain
[Russell]
|
21862
|
Consciousness is based on 'I can', not on 'I think'
[Merleau-Ponty]
|
3828
|
Thinking must involve a self, not just an "it"
[Searle]
|
8221
|
We cannot judge the Cogito. Must we begin? Must we start from certainty? Can 'I' relate to thought?
[Deleuze/Guattari]
|
3881
|
In the Cogito argument consciousness develops into self-consciousness
[Scruton]
|