The cogito
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Question
The cogito?
Answer
'I think, therefore I am' — even a deceived mind must exist to be deceived, so a thinking thing certainly exists.
Question
Why can't the cogito be doubted?
Answer
To doubt it you must think, and to think you must exist — so doubting it proves it.
Question
What does the cogito actually prove?
Answer
Only that you are a thinking thing (a mind) — not that you have a body or that the world is real.
Question
Res cogitans?
Answer
A 'thinking thing' — a mind that doubts, believes, wills, imagines and senses.
Question
Why is the cogito Descartes' foundation?
Answer
It's the first belief to survive the evil demon, so all rebuilt knowledge stands on it.
Question
Is the cogito 'self-proving'?
Answer
Yes — the act of doubting it is itself thinking, which proves a thinker exists.
Question
The narrowness of the cogito (Go further)?
Answer
It proves existence only in the present moment of thinking — not that you existed yesterday or will tomorrow.
Question
Cogito vs the body?
Answer
The cogito proves a mind exists; the body is still doubted and only recovered much later.
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Topic 10.3 hub
Meditations on First Philosophy — Descartes
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