Descartes Cogito Argument

Descartes is considering that all of his experiences could be false and that everything is just the invention of a powerful being. This resulted in this argument:

The cogito, “I think” is Descartes’ first certainty and his first step into knowledge. Descartes argues that there is one thing that he is most certain of and even the evil demon can manipulate and make him doubt. He cannot doubt that he thinks because even doubting of a form of thinking and that means that he will be thinking. Even if the demon made him doubt that he is thinking, he would be confident that he is thinking that the demon is making him doubt his thinking. He cannot also doubt that he exists and if he were to doubt of his existence, he would prove that he exists because of his thoughts, and thus his thinking means he exists and hence if he exists then he must be thinking of his existence. Therefore, Descartes extends his certainty

Descartes’ skeptical arguments begin from the thought that everything can be doubted; the first being our senses. He claims that our senses can sometimes deceive us (e.g. when viewing things from far away). Things that can deceive us once, have the possibility to be deceiving us all the time—giving us reason to doubt all sensory claims. This leads to a problem since humans rely on empirical knowledge. If one cannot consider any claim delivered by sense to be true knowledge, then it gives reason for one to doubt reality. Following is the dream argument in which what seems to be tangible reality, is an effect of a dreaming experience. Descartes gives the example of dreaming he is sitting by a fire when in actuality he could be asleep

In the Meditations, Rene Descartes attempts to doubt everything that is possible to doubt. His uncertainty of things that existence ranges from God to himself. Then he goes on to start proving that things do exist by first proving that he exists. After he establishes himself he can go on to establish everything else in the world. Next he goes to prove that the mind is separate then the body. In order to do this he must first prove he has a mind, and then prove that bodily things exist. I do agree with Descartes that the mind is separate from the body. These are the arguments that I agree with Descartes.

The argument, as Descartes presented, does not give a valid reason for the existence of the body or anything else in the physical world, so we cannot accept that bodies exist. Neither does the cogito account for the existence of other minds as that would entail knowledge of the physical world where other things exist. The cogito concept does however; give a valid argument for the existence of the mind or a thinking thing that exists independently of the body. In his novel Think, Blackburn explains the cogito concept as a means of justifying the core of one’s existence as thinking, we accept that thought exists not a ‘self’ (Blackburn, 2001:20). I agree with Blackburn because his [Descartes’] concept serves well to prove that we exist as thinking things and even if we were to discard any a priori or a posteriori knowledge, we can still endorse the cogito.

First lets look at its strengths. In my opinion, the primary strength of Descartes argument lies in the fact that he claims the certainty of his own existence only. He utilizes a first person point of view throughout the meditations in order to exemplify the fact that he is not trying to prove the existence of others. This view of thinking is easily applicable to our own lives. This form of thought allowed Descartes to further his foundationalism whilst still maintaining his skepticism. Descartes acknowledged that this argument on its own proved very little and was open to questioning; yet it still provided a backdrop for the rest of his argument. Yet the Cogito is still not beyond all doubt. Just because Descartes has proven that thoughts exist does not necessarily mean that he exists. we could argue that merely thinking does not guarantee that ‘I’ exist, and therefore the cogito is not beyond all doubt. Descartes reject common definitions such as man, instead referring to simply “a thing.” Descartes concludes his

This argument is often called the “Dream Argument”. Descartes does have a response to this. He says one can assume that they are currently dreaming. If a person is dreaming then there are things that are perceived such as the body and other objects. These objects cannot be purely imagined, he compares this to how a painter’s mind works. A painter cannot create something never before seen. At some point the objects being observed have to exist. He goes on to say, some things like Physics and Astronomy can be doubted but the fundamental properties, Math and Geometry, cannot be doubted. His assertion is that whether in dream or reality two plus two will always add up to four. Descartes finishes by claiming, that if God is all-powerful and has given Descartes only true beliefs. Descartes being his own greatest skeptic makes his final judgment. It is possible that some trickster is inside of Descartes mind changing everything he believes to be true. For example, the evil demon may trick Descartes into believing that two plus two equals five. Descartes would have no way of knowing reality from fiction. This is the famous “Evil-Demon Argument” which Descartes

As a thinking entity, Descartes is a consciousness mind aware of the potential to engage in various modes of existence. To the numerous operations of “thought” he includes doubting, understanding, affirming, denying, willing, refusing, imagining, and sensing. As varied and manifold as these operations appear, they are but expressions of two principal types of conscious activity, to which Descartes eventually traces the nature of error. Thinking and reasoning, together with all belief in general, depend upon the operation of the twin faculties “knowing” and “choosing,” or the free will. Garrett Thompson writes:

In Meditations II Rene Descartes, the father of modern philosophy changed the landscape of Western Philosophy by stating: ‘cogito ergo sum – I think, therefore I am’. Now referred to as Descartes’ Cogito argument. The introduction of the cogito would go on to not only immortalize Descartes but also solidify his status as a pioneer of human thought. However, over time many modern day philosophers have begun to question the merit of Descartes’ Cogito argument. Much of the argument’s criticism draws from its uncanny similarities to Avicenna’s Floating Man thought experiment, which had been presented 600 years prior. Despite the apparent similarities between these arguments, a thorough analysis of each account will reveal unexpected distinctions.

that you exist is proof that you in fact exist as how can you doubt

In the dream argument Descartes’ thinks that sometimes while he is dreaming, he falsely thinks that he is awake. After he reflects on this, Descartes thinks that he can’t ever tell if he is dreaming or not. He then shares the idea that maybe it is all just a dream. Although some beliefs we form in our dreams are false, the material for our dreams comes from things we experience while awake. Descartes points out that no matter how much it may seem you are awake; it is also possible for you to have that same experience while dreaming. His ideas about dreaming give him reason to doubt all of his sensory beliefs. In the last part of his argument he states that if he cannot tell whether or not he is dreaming, then how can he trust anything his senses

“During these few days I am examining if anything in the world exists, it obviously followed that I exist” (84) Descartes states that a being can be certain of their existence if they have the ability to think and comprehend thoughts. He also adds that thoughts imagination etc are objectively real. So if thoughts are real in their own right, then the creator of those thoughts must also be real or exist “Here I make my discovery, thoughts exist; it alone cannot be separated from me” (65) Based on the evidence above it allows us to see that Descartes arguments about his natural existence seem coherent and

In the meditations, Descartes evaluates whether or not everything we know is a reality or a dream. Descartes claims that we can only be sure that our beliefs are true when we clearly and distinctively perceive them to be true. As the reader analyzes the third meditation, Descartes has confirmed that some of his beliefs are in fact true. The first is that Descartes himself exists. This is expressed in what has now become a popular quote known as the “Cogito” which says, “I think therefore I am. His second conclusion is that God exist and that he is not a deceiver. Descartes then presents his arguments to prove the existence of God. He argues that by nature humans are imperfect beings. Furthermore, humankind could not possibly be able to comprehend perfection or infinite things on their own. He writes, “By the name of God I understand a substance that is infinite, independent, all-knowing, all powerful, and which myself and everything else…have been created.”(16) Descartes uses this description of God to display the distinction between God and man.

Descartes answers his seemingly hopeless skepticism from the first meditation with the Cogito. The basic point of his Cogito argument is that for me to either perceive awry, or even to doubt my own existence, I must exist. It is, as Descartes says, “’I am, I exist’ is necessarily true every time it is uttered by me or conceived in my mind (Med2, par3).” He makes two arguments for the Cogito in his second meditation. Descartes arrives at the Cogito through the notion of an omnipotent deceiver actually. He starts to question his own

Descartes discusses the existence of the human mind as a separate entity from the human body, including the a passage confirming his own existence as nothing but a thinking entity, in his writing Principles of Philosophy (I. 63-65). Following his rejection of all knowledge, in order to divide what was false from what could be proven, Descartes strives to prove the existence of his own mind, as a basis from which to prove the existence of the rest of the universe. I think his premise is flawed, Through the concept of doubt, he finds a contradiction (I am thinking about not