Cogito in Brief.
Intr. to Philosophy
Cogito in Brief
In his writings, Meditations on First Philosophy, Rene Descartes aims to provide a strong foundation for knowledge of the external world through many sections. Descartes, in the second section of his Meditations, subtitled: "The nature of the human mind, and how it is better known than the body" continues his search for truth, discarding any ideas that may be uncertain. He refers to Archimedes' famous line that given one immovable point, he could shift the entire earth. In the same way, Descartes' immovable truth, a truth on which he lays down his foundation of knowledge is the line, "Cogito ergo sum." I think, therefore I am.
This is probably the most celebrated solitary line in all of philosophy, and is said to be the foundation for modern philosophy. An internet philosophy resource reports that "what Descartes is trying to say in this line is that every time he thinks something in his mind, he has proof that he exists. It is not possible to think without also existing. This proof, known as the Cogito, is Descartes first development towards his goal of perfect knowledge" (Mind and Body 3). This is why it is necessary to examine this proof so that one can have a better perceptive of the Meditations' meaning (3).
Descartes previously gave an example dreaming and imagination, displaying that we infer based on experience. "For even if, as I have supposed, none of the objects of imagination are real, the power of imagination is something which really exists and is part of my thinking" (Descartes 180). If life is just a big dream, as some hypothesize, Descartes argues that then, I certainly exist. "I am, I exist is necessarily true whenever it is put forward to me or conceived by my mind"...
Reviews of: "Cogito in Brief."
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I usually don't enjoy reading essays of this nature but you kept me interested in the topic. This might even be a college level paper. I was very suprised and learned a lot.
One of the main tools Descartes used was listing all the things he could not doubt. He started with what he could see, but decided he could be imagining it. He moved on to mathematics and again decided it could be doubted, man kind may have been getting it wrong the whole time. The only thing he could not doubt was that he thought, the thoughts could be wrong but they existed none-the-less.
The essay was really great.
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Very intellectual
very nice essay here. I found this essay very informative and found out about cogito ergo sum, something I have never heard of. haha
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