Cogito ergo sum - Williams's argument

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

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 - 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

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