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Most criticism is of the cogito in its earlier format: I think therefore I am, in the Discourse on
Method.
1) The hidden premise: (First raised by Lichtenberg) I think Thinking things exist Therefore I am
This premise is questionable -Does the existence of thoughts necessarily imply a thinker? David Hume argued that we have no right to assume this, as does the anatta (no-self) doctrine of Buddhism. Perhaps Descartes should have said, There is thinking going on; therefore there are thoughts. The cogito therefore doesnt actually establish the existence of a self. I is merely a linguistic convenience. It doesnt actually refer to anything, any more than the It in It is raining. Descartes strays from his rationalistic agenda here since thinking things exist is an a posteriori, empirical observation.
I think Therefore I am
According to Bertrand Russell the cogito is circular since it assumes what it is setting out to prove.
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I think Therefore I am
But as with the hidden premise argument, Descartes never intended the cogito to be a deductive argument, and his restatement of the cogito in the Meditations (I am, I exist is necessarily true) overcomes this criticism.
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Most critics of Descartes are willing to grant him the cogito, but would argue that if this is as far as his argument goes then he has established very little indeed. His task is to overcome scepticism and produce some certainty about the world out there.
He claims this is his Archimedian point, his foundational proposition upon which he will build knowledge but, as we shall see, he abandons this as a foundation, and uses arguments for God as his means of overcoming scepticism.
Descartes is a dualist - he believes in the existence of a body and a mind. He argues that although he may be deceived by an evil demon into believing he has a body, he must have a mind since he has thoughts.
This viewpoint is contrary to modern neuro-science (study of the brain) which takes a monist position we only have a body. Thoughts exist in the brain nerve cells. Without a brain there can be no thoughts. If you cant exist without a body then Descartes position is seriously undermined.
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