Descartes: Meditations

[Moody]

Some links for Descartes' Meditations;

http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~fdoull/des-med.htm

http://www.classicallibrary.org/descartes/meditations/

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl3...ditations.html

[Undvargr]

Some links for Descartes' Meditations;

http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~fdoull/des-med.htm

http://www.classicallibrary.org/descartes/meditations/

http://oregonstate.edu/instruct/phl3...ditations.html

One should rather read the Latin original text. Translations of philosophical text often distort its meaning because there are often concepts/words in one language which can not really be translated into another language simply because there is no corresponding concept in the language into which the text is translated. For example the Latin concept of "essentia" (itself the (Thomasian) translation of Greek "ousia") is a very special concept and can not simply be translated as "essence" or "substance". Thus one should always, if possible, read philosophical texts in the languages they were originally written in. Doing so is the prerequisite for being able to extract the true meaning of a text. Classical education may help.

[Moody]

Thanks - cogito ergo sum, Undvagr!

Here is a link to Descartes in the Latin tung;

http://www.wright.edu/cola/descartes/medl.html

[Hanna]

Cogito, ergo sum" (Latin: "I think, therefore I am"), sometimes misquoted as Dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum (Latin: "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am")[1], is a philosophical statement used by René Descartes, which became a foundational element of Western philosophy. The simple meaning of the phrase is that if someone is wondering whether or not he exists, that is in and of itself proof that he does exist.

Descartes's original statement was "Je pense donc je suis," from his Discourse on Method (1637). He uses the Latin "Cogito ergo sum" in the later Principles of Philosophy (1644), Part 1, article 7: "Ac proinde hæc cognitio, ego cogito, ergo sum, est omnium prima & certissima, quæ cuilibet ordine philosophanti occurrat.", by which time it had become popularly known as 'the "Cogito Ergo Sum" argument'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum

His arguments were simple '' You Think, You Must Exits'' So when we wake up every morning so we experince us as new entity? Because we end up yesterday behind us?

[CharlesDexterWard]

His arguments were simple '' You Think, You Must Exits'' So when we wake up every morning so we experince us as new entity? Because we end up yesterday behind us?

Didn't he actually make his greatest contribution in mathematics, with the coordinate system?

I only read shorter passages from him, and I was shocked and put off by the simple logical flaws that I found. Your critique is also warranted. I heard that he was an absinthomaniac, by the way.

[Gorm the Old]

"Cogito ergo sum" is a tautology. It assumes its conclusion. The use of a verb in the first person assumes existence of the speaker. One could hardly say "I think that I do not exist" without being inconsistent, illogical, and absurd.

The use of the first person pronoun: "je", even more clearly presupposes the existence of the subject of the verb in "Je pense, donc je suis." It is impossible to use a first person pronoun or verb without so doing. Therefore, Descartes has said nothing.

[Hanna]

"Cogito ergo sum" is a tautology. It assumes its conclusion. The use of a verb in the first person assumes existence of the speaker. One could hardly say "I think that I do not exist" without being inconsistent, illogical, and absurd.

The use of the first person pronoun: "je", even more clearly presupposes the existence of the subject of the verb in "Je pense, donc je suis." It is impossible to use a first person pronoun or verb without so doing. Therefore, Descartes has said nothing.

The 'i' as a continuous person in the world am I not right? And because we think, then we exists because we know the reality.And of cos some people can't able to look beyond why the existence of free will is traceable.

[GroeneWolf]

His arguments were simple '' You Think, You Must Exits'' So when we wake up every morning so we experince us as new entity? Because we end up yesterday behind us?

Hmm, having read hardly anything y him. However I do know that this is related with Descrates quest to find out what realy existed. Where he started with radical selfdoubt. And this was his conclusion that he could at least be sure he himself existed.

However if we wake every day as a completly new entity I find unlikely. Because that would suppose that all the memories we have in our mind and that we conventionaly vieuw as our own are that of an other entity. Alto possible, I don't it is likely.