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Single Idea 3912
[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito
]
Full Idea
Since therefore I must exist in order to be mistaken, then even if I am mistaken, there can be no doubt that I am not mistaken in my knowledge that I exist…. I know that I exist, and I also know that I know.
Gist of Idea
I must exist in order to be mistaken, so that even if I am mistaken, I can't be wrong about my own existence
Source
Augustine (City of God [c.427], Ch.XI.26)
Book Ref
Scruton,Roger: 'Modern Philosophy: introduction and survey' [Sinclair-Stevenson 1994], p.460
A Reaction
Fine, but the main problem is his over-confidence about a stable personal identity that does the thinking.
The
33 ideas
from Augustine
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16702
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All things are in the present time to God
[Augustine]
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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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6683
|
The contact of spirit and body is utterly amazing, and incomprehensible
[Augustine]
|
|
22887
|
If God existed before creation, why would a perfect being desire to change things?
[Augustine, by Bardon]
|
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22888
|
To be aware of time it can only exist in the mind, as memory or anticipation
[Augustine, by Bardon]
|
|
22976
|
Memories are preserved separately, according to category
[Augustine]
|
|
22978
|
Memory is so vast that I cannot recognise it as part of my mind
[Augustine]
|
|
22977
|
I can distinguish different smells even when I am not experiencing them
[Augustine]
|
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22979
|
Three main questions seem to be whether a thing is, what it is, and what sort it is
[Augustine]
|
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22980
|
Memory contains innumerable principles of maths, as well as past sense experiences
[Augustine]
|
|
22983
|
We would avoid remembering sorrow or fear if that triggered the emotions afresh
[Augustine]
|
|
22982
|
Why does joy in my mind make me happy, but joy in my memory doesn't?
[Augustine]
|
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22981
|
Mind and memory are the same, as shown in 'bear it in mind' or 'it slipped from mind'
[Augustine]
|
|
22984
|
Without memory I could not even speak of myself
[Augustine]
|
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22985
|
Everyone wants happiness
[Augustine]
|
|
5976
|
If God is outside time in eternity, can He hear prayers?
[Augustine]
|
|
5977
|
Heaven and earth must be created, because they are subject to change
[Augustine]
|
|
5979
|
If the past is no longer, and the future is not yet, how can they exist?
[Augustine]
|
|
5978
|
I know what time is, until someone asks me to explain it
[Augustine]
|
|
5981
|
The whole of the current year is not present, so how can it exist?
[Augustine]
|
|
5980
|
How can ten days ahead be a short time, if it doesn't exist?
[Augustine]
|
|
5982
|
If the future does not exist, how can prophets see it?
[Augustine]
|
|
5983
|
I disagree with the idea that time is nothing but cosmic movement
[Augustine]
|
|
5984
|
Maybe time is an extension of the mind
[Augustine]
|
|
16588
|
I prefer a lack of form to mean non-existence, than to think of some quasi-existence
[Augustine]
|
|
4348
|
Love, and do what you will
[Augustine]
|
|
22117
|
Our minds grasp reality by direct illumination (rather than abstraction from experience)
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
|
22167
|
Our images of bodies are not produced by the bodies, but by our own minds
[Augustine, by Aquinas]
|
|
22118
|
Augustine created the modern concept of the will
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
|
7821
|
Pagans produced three hundred definitions of the highest good
[Augustine, by Grayling]
|
|
22119
|
Augustine said (unusually) that 'ought' does not imply 'can'
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
|
22116
|
Augustine identified Donatism, Pelagianism and Manicheism as the main heresies
[Augustine, by Matthews]
|
|
19338
|
Augustine said evil does not really exist, and evil is a limitation in goodness
[Augustine, by Perkins]
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