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Single Idea 5638

[filed under theme 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 5. Cogito Critique ]

Full Idea

The proposition 'I think' was useless to Spinoza, because it expresses a merely contingent proposition, where certainty must be founded in necessity, and because it refers to the first person, when truth comes from rising above our own mentality.

Gist of Idea

'I think' is useless, because it is contingent, and limited to the first person

Source

report of Baruch de Spinoza (The Ethics [1675]) by Roger Scruton - Short History of Modern Philosophy Ch.5

Book Ref

Scruton,Roger: 'A Short History of Modern Philosophy' [ARK 1985], p.51

A Reaction

I find both of these criticisms very appealing. One might simply say that the starting point of philosophy is not the process of thinking, but the contents of thinking. Descartes' move is like astronomers becoming obsessed with telescopes.

The 33 ideas with the same theme [objections to the necessary existence of a thinker]:

3623 The Cogito only works if you already understand what thought and existence are [Mersenne on Descartes]
1369 It is a precondition of the use of the word 'I' that I exist [Ayer 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]
3120 Autistic children seem to use the 'I' concept without seeing themselves as thinkers [Segal 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]
1117 The Cogito proves subjective experience is basic, but makes false claims about the Self [Russell on Descartes]
2873 Maybe 'I' am not the thinker, but something produced by thought [Nietzsche on Descartes]
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]
5638 'I think' is useless, because it is contingent, and limited to the first person [Spinoza, by Scruton]
12996 I know more than I think, since I know I think A then B then C [Leibniz]
13003 The Cogito doesn't prove existence, because 'I am thinking' already includes 'I am' [Leibniz]
19334 I can't just know myself to be a substance; I must distinguish myself from others, which is hard [Leibniz]
5590 'I think therefore I am' is an identity, not an inference (as there is no major premise) [Kant]
23201 The 'I' does not think; it is a construction of thinking, like other useful abstractions [Nietzsche]
7146 Belief in the body is better established than belief in the mind [Nietzsche]
22159 If we posit 'I' as the starting point, we miss the mind's phenomenal content [Heidegger]
7112 The Cogito depends on a second-order experience, of being conscious of consciousness [Sartre]
7114 The consciousness that says 'I think' is not the consciousness that thinks [Sartre]
7119 Is the Cogito reporting an immediate experience of doubting, or the whole enterprise of doubting? [Sartre]
19459 To say 'I am not thinking' must be false, but it might have been true, so it isn't self-contradictory [Ayer]
19460 'I know I exist' has no counterevidence, so it may be meaningless [Ayer]
19461 Knowing I exist reveals nothing at all about my nature [Ayer]
6619 Perhaps 'I' no more refers than the 'it' in 'it is raining' [Lowe]
12407 Barman to Descartes: Would you like another drink?... [Sommers,W]
12399 There was a young student called Fred... [Sommers,W]