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Single Idea 6907
[filed under theme 16. Persons / D. Continuity of the Self / 7. Self and Thinking
]
Full Idea
For Descartes the essence of corporeal things is not an object of the senses, but only of the mind; and hence it is not the senses but the mind that is the essence of the perceiving subject, that is, of man.
Clarification
'Corporeal things' are physical objects
Gist of Idea
For Descartes a person's essence is the mind because objects are perceived by mind, not senses
Source
report of René Descartes (Meditations [1641], 2) by Ludwig Feuerbach - Principles of Philosophy of the Future §17
Book Ref
Feuerbach,Ludwig: 'Principles of the Philosophy of the Future', ed/tr. Vogel,M [Hackett 1986], p.26
A Reaction
This, of course, is why Descartes' approach can lead to idealism and solipsism, whereas the other approach leads to empiricism and animalism (Idea 6669).
Related Idea
Idea 6669
For 'animalism', I exist before I became a person, and can continue after it, so I am not a person [Olson, by Lowe]
The
115 ideas
from 'Meditations'
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7504
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Modern science comes from Descartes' view that knowledge doesn't need moral purity
[Descartes, by Foucault]
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2857
|
Since Plato all philosophers have followed the herd, except Descartes, stuck in superficial reason
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
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1569
|
Descartes impoverished the classical idea of logos, and it no longer covered human experience
[Roochnik on Descartes]
|
|
17865
|
Descartes gives an essence by an encapsulating formula
[Descartes, by Almog]
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6929
|
Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
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6490
|
For Descartes, objects have one primary quality, which is geometrical
[Descartes, by Robinson,H]
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6153
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Interaction between mental and physical seems to violate the principle of conservation of energy
[Rowlands on Descartes]
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4017
|
Descartes created the modern view of rationality, as an internal feature instead of an external vision
[Descartes, by Taylor,C]
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16631
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If we remove surface qualities from wax, we have an extended, flexible, changeable thing
[Descartes]
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|
10054
|
Arithmetic and geometry achieve some certainty without worrying about existence
[Descartes]
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1585
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Descartes tried to model reason on maths instead of 'logos'
[Roochnik on Descartes]
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6347
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Descartes can't begin again, because sceptics doubt cognitive processes as well as beliefs
[Pollock/Cruz on Descartes]
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2247
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To achieve good science we must rebuild from the foundations
[Descartes]
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1582
|
Labelling slightly doubtful things as false is irrational
[Roochnik on Descartes]
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2248
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Reason says don't assent to uncertain principles, just as much as totally false ones
[Descartes]
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2249
|
It is prudent never to trust your senses if they have deceived you even once
[Descartes]
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3620
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We correct sense errors with other senses, not intellect
[Mersenne on Descartes]
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3619
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The senses can only report, so perception errors are in the judgment
[Gassendi on Descartes]
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2251
|
Even if my body and objects are imaginary, there may be simpler things which are true
[Descartes]
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2252
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Surely maths is true even if I am dreaming?
[Descartes]
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2253
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God may have created nothing, but made his creation appear to me as it does now
[Descartes]
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2254
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To achieve full scepticism, I imagine a devil who deceives me about the external world and my own body and senses
[Descartes]
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3850
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We discovers others as well as ourselves in the Cogito
[Sartre on Descartes]
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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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2255
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Only one certainty is needed for progress (like a lever's fulcrum)
[Descartes]
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2256
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Maybe there is only one certain fact, which is that nothing is certain
[Descartes]
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2257
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I myself could be the author of all these self-delusions
[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
|
The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge
[Rey on Descartes]
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1117
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The Cogito proves subjective experience is basic, but makes false claims about the Self
[Russell on Descartes]
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5360
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The thing which experiences may be momentary, and change with the next experience
[Russell on Descartes]
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2870
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'I think' assumes I exist, that thinking is known and caused, and that I am doing it
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
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5188
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A thought doesn't imply other thoughts, or enough thoughts to make up a self
[Ayer on Descartes]
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3623
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The Cogito only works if you already understand what thought and existence are
[Mersenne on Descartes]
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3624
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That I perform an activity (thinking) doesn't prove what type of thing I am
[Hobbes on Descartes]
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3120
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Autistic children seem to use the 'I' concept without seeing themselves as thinkers
[Segal on Descartes]
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4526
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The Cogito assumes a priori the existence of substance, when actually it is a grammatical custom
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
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5579
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How can we infer that all thinking involves self-consciousness, just from my own case?
[Kant on Descartes]
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5580
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My self is not an inference from 'I think', but a presupposition of it
[Kant on Descartes]
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5587
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We cannot give any information a priori about the nature of the 'thing that thinks'
[Kant on Descartes]
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5588
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The fact that I am a subject is not enough evidence to show that I am a substantial object
[Kant on Descartes]
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2873
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Maybe 'I' am not the thinker, but something produced by thought
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
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1369
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It is a precondition of the use of the word 'I' that I exist
[Ayer 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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3625
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The 'thinking thing' may be the physical basis of the mind
[Hobbes on Descartes]
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2261
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My perceiving of things may be false, but my seeming to perceive them cannot be false
[Descartes]
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2263
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The wax is not perceived by the senses, but by the mind alone
[Descartes]
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3628
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Substance cannot be conceived or explained to others
[Gassendi on Descartes]
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3627
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Dogs can make the same judgements as us about variable things
[Gassendi on Descartes]
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2264
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We don't 'see' men in heavy clothes, we judge them to be men
[Descartes]
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2265
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We perceive objects by intellect, not by senses or imagination
[Descartes]
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2266
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My general rule is that everything that I perceive clearly and distinctly is true
[Descartes]
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4301
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Someone may think a thing is 'clear and distinct', but be wrong
[Leibniz on Descartes]
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5685
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True ideas are images, such as of a man, a chimera, or God
[Descartes]
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5686
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In some thoughts I grasp a subject, but also I will or fear or affirm or deny it
[Descartes]
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3629
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All ideas are adventitious, and come from the senses
[Gassendi on Descartes]
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2268
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One idea leads to another, but there must be an initial idea that contains the reality of all the others
[Descartes]
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2430
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I can learn the concepts of duration and number just from observing my own thoughts
[Descartes]
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2269
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God the creator is an intelligent, infinite, powerful substance
[Descartes]
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2272
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There must be at least as much in the cause as there is in the effect
[Descartes]
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1400
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Some cause must unite the separate temporal sections of a person
[Descartes]
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2273
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The ideas of God and of my self are innate in me
[Descartes]
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2274
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The idea of God in my mind is like the mark a craftsman puts on his work
[Descartes]
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2275
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It is self-evident that deception is a natural defect, so God could not be a deceiver
[Descartes]
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2276
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The mind is a non-extended thing which thinks
[Descartes]
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2278
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Error arises because my faculty for judging truth is not infinite
[Descartes]
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2277
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Since God does not wish to deceive me, my judgement won't make errors if I use it properly
[Descartes]
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2281
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If we ask whether God's works are perfect, we must not take a narrow viewpoint, but look at the universe as a whole
[Descartes]
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2280
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Many causes are quite baffling, so it is absurd to deduce causes from final purposes
[Descartes]
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2282
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My capacity to make choices with my free will extends as far as any faculty ever could
[Descartes]
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2283
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Our 'will' just consists of the feeling that when we are motivated to do something, there are no external pressures
[Descartes]
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2284
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I make errors because my will extends beyond my understanding
[Descartes]
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3636
|
God didn't give us good judgement even about our own lives
[Gassendi on Descartes]
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2285
|
I can think of innumerable shapes I have never experienced
[Descartes]
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2279
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A triangle has a separate non-invented nature, shown by my ability to prove facts about it
[Descartes]
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2286
|
The idea of a supremely perfect being is within me, like the basic concepts of mathematics
[Descartes]
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3632
|
We mustn't worship God as an image because we have no idea of him
[Hobbes on Descartes]
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3633
|
We can never conceive of an infinite being
[Gassendi on Descartes]
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2287
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Existence and God's essence are inseparable, like a valley and a mountain, or a triangle and its properties
[Descartes]
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5036
|
Descartes cannot assume that a most perfect being exists without contradictions
[Leibniz on Descartes]
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2288
|
I cannot think of a supremely perfect being without the supreme perfection of existence
[Descartes]
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3638
|
Existence is not a perfection; it is what makes perfection possible
[Gassendi on Descartes]
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2289
|
Nothing apart from God could have essential existence, and such a being must be unique and eternal
[Descartes]
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2290
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Once it is clear that there is a God who is no deceiver, I conclude that clear and distinct perceptions must be true
[Descartes]
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3641
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It is circular to make truth depend on believing God's existence is true
[Arnauld on Descartes]
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4524
|
Descartes is right that in the Christian view only God can guarantee the reliability of senses
[Nietzsche on Descartes]
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1399
|
Imagination and sensation are non-essential to mind
[Descartes]
|
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2294
|
I can only sense an object if it is present, and can't fail to sense it when it is
[Descartes]
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2295
|
Why does pain make us sad?
[Descartes]
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2296
|
If pain is felt in a lost limb, I cannot be certain that a felt pain exists in my real limbs
[Descartes]
|
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3642
|
Pythagoras' Theorem doesn't cease to be part of the essence of triangles just because we doubt it
[Arnauld on Descartes]
|
|
2297
|
If I can separate two things in my understanding, then God can separate them in reality
[Descartes]
|
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1401
|
Since I only observe myself to be thinking, I conclude that that is my essence
[Descartes]
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2299
|
I can exist without imagination and sensing, but they can't exist without me
[Descartes]
|
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2298
|
Mind is not extended, unlike the body
[Descartes]
|
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3423
|
Descartes is a substance AND property dualist
[Descartes, by Kim]
|
|
2552
|
Knowing different aspects of brain/mind doesn't make them different
[Rorty on Descartes]
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4305
|
Descartes gives no clear criterion for individuating mental substances
[Cottingham on Descartes]
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4861
|
Does Descartes have a clear conception of how mind unites with body?
[Spinoza on Descartes]
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4862
|
Can the pineal gland be moved more slowly or quickly by the mind than by animal spirits?
[Spinoza on Descartes]
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2301
|
We know by thought that what is done cannot be undone
[Descartes]
|
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2303
|
The mind is utterly indivisible
[Descartes]
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2302
|
Faculties of the mind aren't parts, as one mind uses them
[Descartes]
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2305
|
Waking actions are joined by memory to all our other actions, unlike actions of which we dream
[Descartes]
|
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3151
|
Descartes put thought at the centre of the mind problem, but we put sensation
[Rey on Descartes]
|
|
6907
|
For Descartes a person's essence is the mind because objects are perceived by mind, not senses
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
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6914
|
Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist'
[Descartes, by Feuerbach]
|
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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]
|
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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]
|
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21800
|
Descartes mentions many cognitive faculties, but reduces them to will and intellect
[Descartes, by Schmid]
|
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6540
|
Even Descartes may concede that mental supervenes on neuroanatomical
[Lycan on Descartes]
|
|
20190
|
Belief is not an intellectual state or act, because propositions are affirmed or denied by the will
[Descartes, by Zagzebski]
|
|
7733
|
Superman's strength is indubitable, Clark Kent's is doubtful, so they are not the same?
[Maslin on Descartes]
|