Thought Experiment Analyses of René Descartes' Cogito

Dados Bibliográficos

ID4320648
AutoresC P Hertogh (0000-0002-6778-4837, , Belgium, autor correspondente)
Ano2016
Volume39
Fascículo3
Páginas9-22
Data de publicação2016-09-01
Open AccessSim
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoTrans/Form/Ação (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 0101-3173 • E-ISSN: 1980-539X
EditoraFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/s0101-31732016000300002
OpenAlexW2521444669
SciELOS0101-31732016000300009
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas1
Referências citadas9

René Descartes' Cogito is an example of a paradigmatic thought experiment, herald of both subjectivism and new science in Europe's Modern Age, that seems to have escaped the attention of thought experiment philosophers. On deep analysis, the Cogito appears as universal instantiation (or modus ponens with implicit major 'whatever has the property of thinking, exists'). The Cogito has strong rhetorical effects for it narratively generalizes from I to all human kind, and its historical and philosophical success can be explained from its concise enthymematic structure that rings true in many possible senses. We consider it a preeminent example of a thought experiment as it states the power of thinking as its very contents. From Descartes' methodology of doubt we can conclude that, e.g., on a Wittgensteinian interpretation, the Cogito is a logical thought experiment rather than a psychological one

Cogito ergo sum · Epistemology · Interpretation (philosophy) · Linguistics · Rhetorical question · Subjectivism · Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics · Philosophy