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  3. Descartes' Cogito
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    • Publisher:
      Cambridge University Press
      Publication date:
      01 September 2009
      27 February 2003
      ISBN:
      9780511498305
      9780521821667
      9780521037341
      DOI:
      https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511498305
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.567kg, 326 Pages
      Dimensions:
      (228 x 152 mm)
      Weight & Pages:
      0.492kg, 328 Pages
      • Subjects:
      Early Modern Philosophy, Philosophy
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    • Selected: Digital
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    Subjects:
    Early Modern Philosophy, Philosophy
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    Book description

    Perhaps the most famous proposition in the history of philosophy is Descartes' cogito 'I think, therefore I am'. Husain Sarkar claims in this provocative interpretation of Descartes that the ancient tradition of reading the cogito as an argument is mistaken. It should, he says, be read as an intuition. Through this interpretative lens, the author reconsiders key Cartesian topics: the ideal inquirer, the role of clear and distinct ideas, the relation of these to the will, memory, the nature of intuition and deduction, the nature, content and elusiveness of 'I', and the tenability of the doctrine of the creation of eternal truths. Finally, the book demonstrates how Descartes' attempt to prove the existence of God is foiled by a new Cartesian Circle.

    Reviews

    ‘The first original interpretation of the Meditations to appear since the studies of Margaret Wilson and Bernard Williams in the 1970s. Husain Sarkar’s handling of the Cartesian argument brings a … level of sophistication to the discussion of this classic text.’

    Catherine Wilson - University of British Columbia

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    Contents

    Contents
    References
    Bibliography
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