His cogito as an example of an a priori intuition. Flashcards
his cogito is an example of an priori intuition
in the meditations, Descartes doubts his belief until he finally reaches a point of certainty.
he concluded that he cant be deceived about his existence.
“so that after considering everything very thoroughly I can now conclude that the proposition I am, I exist is necessary truth every time it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.”
the three waves of doubt
doubting sense
teh dreaming argument
the evil demon argument
descartes uses his method of doubt in an attempt to rebuild hi system of belief.
this included suspending his judgement about all things he previously took for granted and only accepting beliefs that are indubitable.
first wave- doubting senses
his sense sometimes deceive him descartes argues it would be best not to trust them. the possibility of perceptual error is sufficient to lead him to doubt the whole sense experience.
the dreaming argument
if descartes can have dreams which are just like being awake, then can he be sure that he isn’t dreaming right now? this possibility means that any belief drawn from what he is percieving around him may be false.
the evil demon argument
descartes imagines the possibility of an extremely powerful and malicious demon who employs all his energies to deceive him. such a demon would be powerful enough to deceive him about the very existence of the physical world and also eve basic operation of reasoning such as maths.
“so that after considering everything very thoroughly I can now conclude that the proposition I am, I exist is necessary truth every time it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.”
Descartes uses the wording- I am I exist because he wants us to think of the cogito as a priori intuition not a deduction. It would read something like
If the cogito was a deduction it would read something like:
P1 whatever is thinking exists
P2 I m thinking
Conclusion I exist.
In this case Descartes would not be entitled to premise 1 as the evil demon that he has just hypothesized could be deceiving him about this.
Descartes thinks however that the demon could not be deceiving him about his intuition that he exist.
a transcendental argument
transcendental arguments attempt to transcend doubt. they work by arguing that a certain feature ie in this case existences a pre-condition for doubt to exist.
if you can’t doubt you exist as you need to exist to doubt.
seems plausible but could be too complex to count as a single institution
self verifying thought
descartes often emphasises the temporary fleeting nature of the cogito. this suggests that the truth of the cogito is revealed in the very act of performing it.
the thought- I don’t exist- is self defeatinging in its performance.
criticisms
Hume claims Descartes’s cogito is not sufficient to establish the existence of an enduring ‘I’ Hume claims that what Descartes calls ‘I’ is really no more than a collection or bundle of sensations and perception. Humes challenges us to look inwardly and try to catch hold of this thing we call ‘I’. hume claims it is impossible to do this as all we come across is some sensation or perception and never an enduring ‘I’ Hume’s argument is rooted n his empiricist theory of impression and ideas. We can’t have an idea without a corresponding impression. Hume is claiming we have never had an impression of an enduring self, so we can’t have an idea of an enduring self.
criticisms of cogito
Russell claimed the cogito should read ‘there are thoughts. There is no reference to the thinker here, when we see a brown table what is immediately obvious is a brown table is being seen not, I am seeing a brown table.
