René Descartes' Latin statement "cogito, ergo sum" (traditionally translated as "I think, therefore I am", but more accurately as "I am thinking, therefore I exist") is possibly the single best-known philosophical statement. "Cogito ergo sum" is a translation of Descartes' original French statement: "Je pense, donc je suis", which occurs in his Discourse on Method. Although the idea expressed by "cogito ergo sum" is most commonly associated with Descartes, it was present in many of his predecessors, especially Augustine of Hippo in De Civitate Dei (books XI, 26), who offers th ...

Including:

• Cogito ergo sum - Introduction
• Cogito ergo sum - Criticisms of the cogito
• Cogito ergo sum - Williams's argument

Read more here: » Cogito ergo sum: Encyclopedia - Cogito ergo sum

See also:

Cogito ergo sum, Cogito ergo sum - Introduction, Cogito ergo sum - Common errors, Cogito ergo sum - Criticisms of the cogito, Cogito ergo sum - Williams's argument

Read more here: » Cogito ergo sum: Encyclopedia II - Cogito ergo sum - Introduction

The phrase "cogito ergo sum" is not used in Descartes' most important work, the Meditations on First Philosophy, but the term "the cogito" is (often confusingly) used to refer to it. Descartes felt that this phrase, which he had used in his earlier Discourse, had been misleading in its implication that he was appealing to an inference, so he changed it to "I am, I exist" (also often called "the first certain ...

See also:

Cogito ergo sum, Cogito ergo sum - Introduction, Cogito ergo sum - Criticisms of the cogito, Cogito ergo sum - Williams's argument

Read more here: » Cogito ergo sum: Encyclopedia II - Cogito ergo sum - Introduction

Marx wrote: "Life is not determined by consciousness, but consciousness by life". He assumes that man's ability to think, and the quality of his thoughts depend largely on the quality of the life he lives.

Marx's thrust is primarily to improve the living conditions of man, a pre-condition for intellectual growth. Marx thus attributes primacy to living by establishing a hierarchy of 'living' and 'thinking'. Descartes' cogito ergo sum (I think, therefore I am) can be placed antithetically to Marx's perception. The Cartesian proposition, which is translated as "I think, therefore I exist", subverts the Marxian hierarchy by attributing primacy to 'thinking'.

(See also: Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

Why do children refer to themselves by name rather than in the first person singular? If you were disembodied in one location and reconstructed in another, would you still be yourself?

What about that tune you were humming when you morphed? We may still be a long way from Star Trek, but scientists in Australia have recently managed to teleport a beam of light. 'I' has literally been the bugbear of religion, philosophy and science, across all cultures. Conceptions of the self invariably lead us down slippery slopes of exploration into the nature of identity, and possibly ethnicity.

(See also: The Self, God and Religion, Peace on Earth, Peace of Mind, Love and Happiness, Life and Beyond, Body Mind and Soul)

A priori is a Latin phrase meaning "from the former" or less literally "before experience". In much of the modern Western tradition, the term a priori is considered to mean propositional knowledge that can be had without, or "prior to", experience. It is usually contrasted with a posteriori knowledge meaning "after experience", which requires experience. For those within the mainstream of the tradition, mathematics ...

Including:

• A priori - Philosophical thought

Read more here: » A priori: Encyclopedia - A priori

There is no universally accepted theory of what the word existence means. The dominant (though by no means universal) view in twentieth-century and contemporary Anglo-American philosophy is that existence is what is asserted by statements of first order logic of the form "for some x Fx". This agrees with the simple and commonsensical view that, in uttering "There is a bridge across the Thames at Hammersmith", or "A bridge crosses the Thames at Hammersmith", we are asserting the existence of a bridge across the Thames at Hammersmith. The word "existence", on this view, is simply a way of describing the logi ...

Including:

• Existence - The problems of existence
• Existence - Modern approaches to the problem
• Existence - Earlier views
• Existence - European views
• Existence - Quotations

Read more here: » Existence: Encyclopedia - Existence

The Cartesian 'other' is the counterpart to the Cartesian Self. According to Descartes, there is a divide intrinsic to human consciousness, such that you cannot ever bridge the space between your own consciousness and that of another. This 'other' is in essence theoretical, since you cannot ever be empirically shown such an 'other'. Put differently, Descartes concluded famously Cogito Ergo Sum, "I think, therefore I am", but realized that (according to his Wax hypothetical, as discussed on the wiki page for Descar ...

Read more here: » Cartesian Other: Encyclopedia - Cartesian Other

In philosophy, ontology (from the Greek ὄν, genitive ὄντος: being (part. of εἶναι: to be) and -λογία: writing about, study of) is the most fundamental branch of metaphysics. It studi ...

Including:

• Ontology - Some basic questions
• Ontology - Concepts
• Ontology - Early history of ontology
• Ontology - Subject relationship object
• Ontology - Body and environment
• Ontology - Being
• Ontology - Social Science
• Ontology - Prominent ontologists

Read more here: » Ontology: Encyclopedia - Ontology

Samapatti stands for correct (samyag) acquisition (apatti) of Truth. It is a form of alaukika-pratyaksa (extraordinary perception) forming thus a legitimate part of the perceptual (pratyaksa) instruments of adequate knowledge (pramana). Samapatti is a common term for both Theravada Buddhism and Hindu Yoga, quodammodo also for Jainism, frequently used as a synonym for samadhi. In the Patanjala Yoga, samapatti is discussed as the universal form of the Yoga called samprajnata-yoga, or cognitive Yoga, fo ...

Including:

• Samapatti - More about Samapatti

Read more here: » Samapatti: Encyclopedia - Samapatti

René Descartes (IPA: /deˈkaʁt/, March 31, 1596 – February 11, 1650), also known as Cartesius, was a noted French philosopher, mathematician, and scientist. Dubbed the "Founder of Modern Philosophy" and the "Father of Modern Mathematics," he ranks as one of the most important and influential thinkers of modern times. For good or ill, much of subsequent western philosophy is a reaction to his writings, which have been ...

Including:

• René Descartes - Biography
• René Descartes - Philosophical legacy
• René Descartes - Mathematical legacy
• René Descartes - Writings by Descartes
• René Descartes - Trivia
• René Descartes - Footnotes

Read more here: » René Descartes: Encyclopedia - René Descartes

The word copula originates from the Latin noun for a "link or tie" that connects two different things. In linguistics, a copula is a word that is used to link the subject of a sentence with a predicate (a subject complement or an adverbial). Though it might not itself express any action or condition, it serves to equate (or associate) the subject with the predicate. A copula is sometimes (t ...

Including:

• Copula - The copula in English
• Copula - Use
• Copula - Conjugation
• Copula - Copulas in other languages
• Copula - Chinese
• Copula - Japanese
• Copula - Indo-European languages
• Copula - Russian and Hungarian
• Copula - Turkish
• Copula - Georgian
• Copula - Nahuatl
• Copula - Siouan languages
• Copula - Artificial languages
• Copula - Existential usage
• Copula - Copula as subset relator

Read more here: » Copula: Encyclopedia - Copula

Epistemology, from the Greek words episteme (knowledge) and logos (word/speech) is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge. Historically, it has been one of the most investigated and most debated of all philosophical subjects. Much of this debate has focused on analysing the nature and variety of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth and belief. Much of this discuss ...

Including:

• Epistemology - Definition of knowledge
• Epistemology - Justified true belief
• Epistemology - The problem of defining knowledge
• Epistemology - A priori versus a posteriori knowledge
• Epistemology - Knowledge and belief
• Epistemology - Distinguishing knowing that from knowing how
• Epistemology - Justification
• Epistemology - Irrationalism
• Epistemology - Rationality
• Epistemology - Synthetic and analytic statements
• Epistemology - Epistemological theories
• Epistemology - Empiricism
• Epistemology - Idealism
• Epistemology - Phenomenalism
• Epistemology - Pragmatism
• Epistemology - Rationalism
• Epistemology - Representationalism
• Epistemology - Relativism
• Epistemology - Skepticism
• Epistemology - Contemporary approaches
• Epistemology - Gettier

Read more here: » Epistemology: Encyclopedia - Epistemology

Metaphysics (Greek words meta = after/beyond and physics = nature) is a branch of philosophy concerned with the study of "first principles" and "being" (ontology). Metaphysics as a discipline was a central part of academic inquiry and scholarly education since before the age in which Aristotle coined the word. Long considered "the Queen of Sciences", its issues were considered no less important than the other main formal subjects of physical science, medicine, mathematics, poetics and music. Since the Age of Reaso ...

Including:

• Metaphysics - The origin of the word 'metaphysics'
• Metaphysics - Examples
• Metaphysics - Criticism
• Metaphysics - Metaphysical subdisciplines
• Metaphysics - Metaphysical topics and problems
• Metaphysics - Metaphysical jargon
• Metaphysics - People

Read more here: » Metaphysics: Encyclopedia - Metaphysics

There have been a number of criticisms of the cogito. The first of the two under scrutiny here concerns the nature of the step from "I am thinking" to "I exist". The contention is that this is a syllogistic inference, for it appears to require the extra premise: "Whatever has the property of thinking, exists", and that extra premise must surely have been rejected at an earlier stage of the doubt. It could be argued that "Whatever has the property of thinking, exists" is self-evident, and thus not subject to the method of doubt. ...

See also:

Cogito ergo sum, Cogito ergo sum - Introduction, Cogito ergo sum - Criticisms of the cogito, Cogito ergo sum - Williams's argument

Read more here: » Cogito ergo sum: Encyclopedia II - Cogito ergo sum - Criticisms of the cogito

Some non-philosophers who first come across cogito attempt to refute it in the following way. "I think, therefore I exist," they argue, can be reversed as "I do not think, therefore I do not exist." They argue that a rock does not think, but it still exists, which disproves Descartes' argument. However, this is the logical fallacy of denying the antecedent. The correct corollary by modus tolle ...

See also:

Cogito ergo sum, Cogito ergo sum - Introduction, Cogito ergo sum - Common errors, Cogito ergo sum - Criticisms of the cogito, Cogito ergo sum - Williams's argument

Read more here: » Cogito ergo sum: Encyclopedia II - Cogito ergo sum - Common errors

The nature of being has also been debated and explored in Islamic philosophy, notably by Ibn Sina, Suhrawardi, and Mulla Sadra.[1] ...

See also:

Being, Being - Being and substance in Aristotle, Being - Being in continental philosophy and existentialism, Being - Being in Islamic philosophy

Read more here: » Being: Encyclopedia II - Being - Being in Islamic philosophy

Among the first inquiries into what "being" encompassed was that undertaken by Aristotle. The term "substance" in Aristotle was a precise metaphysical term denoting an individual thing about which specific assertions may be made. Since the Aristotelian view of matter is negative, the "substance" or "being" is a real thing that exists. Since matter renders things more obscure to our perception, it follows that the true essence of an object is independent of ...

See also:

Being, Being - Being and substance in Aristotle, Being - Being in continental philosophy and existentialism, Being - Being in Islamic philosophy

Read more here: » Being: Encyclopedia II - Being - Being and substance in Aristotle

Some philosophers deny that the concept of "being" has any meaning at all, since we only define an object's existence by its relation to other objects, and actions it undertakes. The term "I am" has no meaning by itself; it must have an action or relation appended to it. This in turn has led to the thought that "being" and nothingness are closely related, developed in existential philosophy. Existentialist philosophers such as Sartre, as well as continental philosophers such as Hegel and Heidegger have also written extensively on the ...

See also:

Being, Being - Being and substance in Aristotle, Being - Being in continental philosophy and existentialism, Being - Being in Islamic philosophy

Read more here: » Being: Encyclopedia II - Being - Being in continental philosophy and existentialism

1. The first problem is that, on the simple view above, any sentence of apparently subject-predicate form "S is P" must assert the existence of an object satisfying "S" and "P". Thus any noun phrase whatsoever that is the subject or predicate of a true sentence of this form, must be presumed to denote something. This leads to the question of what is denoted in sentences containing abstract noun phrases, such as "goodness is a virtue", "blindess can be overcome", "the number 9 is the sum of 6 and 3" and so on. Are goodness, blindness, virtue &c. objects i ...

See also:

Existence, Existence - The problems of existence, Existence - Modern approaches to the problem, Existence - Earlier views, Existence - European views, Existence - Quotations

Read more here: » Existence: Encyclopedia II - Existence - The problems of existence