Explication of the Cogito Essay - 669 Words

Explication of the Cogito In his Meditations, Rene Descartes attempts to prove the existence and reality of himself and things external to himself. In order to fulfill such a feat, Descartes decides to doubt all that he knows, for he knows not whether that can be relied upon. He doubts his knowledge for three main reasons. For one, he accounts that in dreams, many times he had thought that things external to himself were real. Also, he had heard people declare pain in limbs that they had lost long ago. After pondering these two experiences he declared, the chief and most common mistake which is to be found here consists in my judging that the ideas which are in me resemble, or conform to, things outside me (Descartes 16).†¦show more content†¦It is a subject-object relationship. In order to question something, there must be something to question, therefore a questionable object exists. And in order for there to be questioning, some thinking thing, i.e. Descartes, must be doing the questioning, therefore, he exists. Even if the Evil Genius is constantly deceiving him, that fact that he is being deceived means that he exists. For this reason, Descartes could not doubt that he was doubting, and thus was able to conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind. (17). To completely prove his point to the skeptics he had to go further, for how could one realize that he/she is doubting? Descartes answers that this is possible through natural light- intuition. By establishing that he is a thing that, doubts, questions, thinks, affirms, denies, imagines, and perceives, through examples, he is able to prove how one could realize his/her doubting. Descartes gives us the example of the wax that is melted, and the people on the street with coats. If the wax melts, one still perceives such as wax because the wax is merely something extended, flexible, and changeable (21). On the street, one could see coats and hats, but one determines that one is seeing people. This, like the wax, is done through judgement alone, by the intellect alone. With this, Descartes posits that anShow MoreRelatedHegel s Concept Of Freedom2587 Words   |  11 Pagesindicates that his remarks on the section are cited. An N following a section number indicates the notes of Gans, Grisheim, and/or Hotho on the section are cited. 5 If thought and will are indeed as linked as Hegel claims, we might coin the maxim cogito ergo volo. I think therefore I will. Descartes, in fact strongly distinguishes between his faculty of thought and his faculty of willing. In the Fourth Meditation, he notes that his intellect is imperfect and that his will, his freedom of choiceRead MoreBranches of Philosophy8343 Words   |  34 Pageswhich cannot be perceived by the senses, such as numbers, elements, universals, and gods; the analysis of patterns of reasoning and argument; the nature of the good life and the importance of understanding and knowledge in order to pursue it; the explication of the concept of justice, and its relation to various political systems[8]. In this period the crucial features of the philosophical method were established: a critical approach to received or established views, and the appeal to reason and argumentationRead MoreHow Fa Has the Use of English Language Enriched or Disrupted Life and Culture in Mauritius15928 Words   |  64 Pagesleaves the body. The narrator closes his poem with an assurance of his self-existence. A very important reasoning is given in the twelfth stanza, â€Å"I exist as I am, that is enough† (413). This is similar to Rene Descartes philosophical term, Cogito Ergo Sum- I think, therefore I am (Wiki). The poet is assured that his existence is not a deception because he is â€Å"I† or the one who thinks. Conclusively, the ideas and philosophical reasoning in the poem relates directly to transcendentalism