med 2

Question 1

Criticisms of the Cogito - * “,”

Answer 1

• “,”. We might attack the connection that Descartes makes between thinking and existing. If we accept in the first meditation that we have this cunning demon, it follows that we have to doubt the entirety of reason itself, and this includes doubting the “inference” that Descartes claims links the mind and existence. If it is a transcendental argument, then it is too complex to be verified at once in one thought; doubt would creep in as we were verifying the argument. DESCARTES REPLIES – this is a misunderstanding of the cogito, which is not a syllogism self-evident by simple intuition from the mind. BUT – doesn’t this assume that he mind exists in the first place and thus make for a circular counterargument? Descartes has not been true to his goal to rid himself of preconceived beliefs.

Question 2

Cogito criticism - I think

Answer 2

“I think”. Though the present tense which Descartes emphasises strengthens the cogito in that it makes is a self-verifying claim, it also weakens Descartes’s conclusion.

This is because the cogito only provides certainty insofar as it is present, and therefore cannot provide certainty for existence holistically. BUT – is this an attack on the cogito itself, or its implications?

HOWEVER – the cogito has to be viewed in the context of the first meditation as the bit of certainty which Descartes latches on to build his epistemological system. Furthermore, this argument relies upon the doubtless connection between thinking and existence.