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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
This is a 4 page paper discussing the interpretations of Descartes’ cogito argument. Philosopher Rene Descartes (1596-1650) wrote his Mediations de prima philosophia in 1641 in an attempt to find the basic absolute truths in our beliefs, more specifically into a “belief he can be certain is true, even if he is believing, or God or an evil demon is trying to deceive him as fully as possible”. In Mediation II (1642), Descartes writes that “So after considering everything very thoroughly, I must finally conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind”. There are several interpretations which have arisen from Descartes’ Mediation II, the most common being the idea “Cogito ergo sum” or “I am thinking, therefore I exist”. The two main interpretations of Descartes’ Mediation II involve the emphasis of the “I” within “I am, I exist” and the emphasis of the concept “think” within “I am thinking, therefore I exist”.
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Page Count:
4 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_TJcogit1.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
into a "belief he can be certain is true, even if he is believing, or God or an evil demon is trying to deceive him as fully as possible" (Pryor,
2002). In Mediation II (1642), Descartes writes that "I have convinced myself that there is absolutely nothing in the world, no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies. Does
it not follow that I too do not exist? No: if I convinced myself of something then I certainly existed. But [suppose] there is a deceiver of supreme power and
cunning who is deliberately and constantly deceiving me. In that case too I undoubtedly exist, if he is deceiving me; and let him deceive me as much as he can,
he will never bring it about that I am nothing so long as I think that I am something. So after considering everything very thoroughly, I must finally conclude that
this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind" (Pryor, 2002). There are several interpretations which have arisen
from Descartes Mediation II, the most common being the idea "Cogito ergo sum" or "I am thinking, therefore I exist". For Descartes, this was the first principle of philosophy and
"by posing the question in terms of relation between thinking subject, deity, and external world, Descartes made a purely epistemological question (about our knowledge) into one that is at root
metaphysical (about the nature of mind, God and world" and included the concept of subjectivity (Talbot, 1996, p. 39). The two main interpretations of Descartes Mediation II involve the
emphasis of the "I" within "I am, I exist" and the emphasis of the concept "think" within "I am thinking, therefore I exist". From his argument that "I am thinking,
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