Thought Experiment Analyses of René Descartes' Cogito

Bibliographic Data

ID4320648
AuthorsC P Hertogh (0000-0002-6778-4837, , Belgium, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume39
Issue3
Pages9-22
Publication date2016-09-01
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueTrans/Form/Ação (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0101-3173 • E-ISSN: 1980-539X
PublisherFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/s0101-31732016000300002
OpenAlexW2521444669
SciELOS0101-31732016000300009
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

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