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Single Idea 3622

[from 'Reply to Second Objections' by René Descartes, in 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito ]

Full Idea

When someone says 'I am thinking, therefore I am, or I exist', he does not deduce existence from thought by means of a syllogism, but recognises it as something self-evident by a simple intuition of the mind.

Gist of Idea

The Cogito is not a syllogism but a self-evident intuition

Source

René Descartes (Reply to Second Objections [1641], 140)

Book Reference

Descartes,René: 'Meditations on First Philosophy etc.', ed/tr. Cottingham,John [CUP 1986], p.68