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11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito

[Descartes' claim that his own existence is self-evidently and necessary]

30 ideas
Thinking implies existence, because thinking depends on it [Parmenides]
To perceive or think is to be conscious of our existence [Aristotle]
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]
The Cogito is not a syllogism but a self-evident intuition [Descartes]
We all see intuitively that we exist, where intuition is attentive, clear and distinct rational understanding [Descartes]
When Socrates doubts, he know he doubts, and that truth is possible [Descartes]
In thinking everything else false, my own existence remains totally certain [Descartes]
Modern philosophy set the self-conscious ego in place of God [Descartes, by Feuerbach]
"I think therefore I am" is the absolute truth of consciousness [Sartre on Descartes]
I must even exist if I am being deceived by something [Descartes]
"I am, I exist" is necessarily true every time I utter it or conceive it in my mind [Descartes]
The Cogito is a transcendental argument, not a piece of a priori knowledge [Rey on Descartes]
If I don't think, there is no reason to think that I exist [Descartes]
Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist' [Descartes, by Feuerbach]
In the Meditations version of the Cogito he says "I am; I exist", which avoids presenting it as an argument [Descartes, by Baggini /Fosl]
Total doubt can't include your existence while doubting [Descartes]
I think, therefore I am, because for a thinking thing to not exist is a contradiction [Descartes]
'Thought' is all our conscious awareness, including feeling as well as understanding [Descartes]
I am as certain of the thing doubting, as I am of the doubt [Locke]
I cannot think my non-existence, nor exist without being myself [Leibniz]
If someone denies that he is thinking when he is conscious of it, we can only laugh [Reid]
The Cogito is at the very centre of the entire concern of modern philosophy [Hegel]
I develop philosophical science from the simplest appearance of immediate consciousness [Hegel, by Hegel]
Descartes found the true beginning of philosophy with the Cogito, in the consciousness of the individual [Schopenhauer]
The physical given, unlike the mental given, could be non-existing [Husserl]
Descartes showed that subjective things are the most certain [Russell]
Consciousness is based on 'I can', not on 'I think' [Merleau-Ponty]
Thinking must involve a self, not just an "it" [Searle]
We cannot judge the Cogito. Must we begin? Must we start from certainty? Can 'I' relate to thought? [Deleuze/Guattari]
In the Cogito argument consciousness develops into self-consciousness [Scruton]