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Single Idea 6914

[from 'Meditations' by René Descartes, in 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 4. The Cogito ]

Full Idea

Descartes transformed the proposition 'because God is thinkable, therefore he exists' into the proposition 'I think, therefore I am'.

Gist of Idea

Descartes transformed 'God is thinkable, so he exists' into 'I think, so I exist'

Source

report of René Descartes (Meditations [1641], 2) by Ludwig Feuerbach - Principles of Philosophy of the Future §18

Book Reference

Feuerbach,Ludwig: 'Principles of the Philosophy of the Future', ed/tr. Vogel,M [Hackett 1986], p.31


A Reaction

This implies that Descartes' foundation is the Ontological Argument rather than the Cogito. It certainly shows how a priori synthetic thinking is basic in Descartes - that views of existence derive from pure thought. Was Descartes an idealist?