A short dialogue on the Cogito: inference or performance?<\/p>\n
MARY: \u2018Cogito ergo sum\u2019 \u2013 I think therefore I am \u2013 Descartes\u2019 famous proof that he exists! A short dialogue on the Cogito: inference or performance? MARY: \u2018Cogito ergo sum\u2019 \u2013 I think therefore I am \u2013 Descartes\u2019 famous proof that he exists!JOHN: I don\u2019t see that Descartes has proved anything.MARY: Why not?JOHN: Well, before Descartes arrives at his \u2018proof\u2019, he sets about trying to subject all his beliefs to doubt, right?MARY: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=310"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/310\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/skepticink.com\/believingbullshit\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
JOHN: I don\u2019t see that Descartes has proved anything.
MARY: Why not?
JOHN: Well, before Descartes arrives at his \u2018proof\u2019, he sets about trying to subject all his beliefs to doubt, right?
MARY: Yes. That\u2019s his famous \u2018method of doubt\u2019. He decides to set aside all of those beliefs which he can doubt, to see if he find any indubitable certainties. He wants to identify which of his beliefs are utterly secure, so that he can then rebuild knowledge upon them. They will provide him with a firm foundation. And the cogito is his starting point \u2013 Descartes cannot doubt that he exists because, by doubting he exists, he proves that he does. It\u2019s a self-defeating doubt.
JOHN: Hmm. I am not so sure. Look, Descartes supposes at one point that there might be an evil demon intent on deceiving him \u2013 correct?
MARY: Yes. Descartes doesn’t actually believe there is such a demon, of course. But he supposes, for the sake of argument, that there might be. A demon so powerful that it could cause Descartes to have deceptive experiences, deluding Descartes into supposing he inhabits a real, physical world of trees and houses and other people, when in truth it is all an illusion.
JOHN: Right. Descartes ask himself: how can I know that I am not being deceived by such a demon? After all, everything would seem just the same. And if I can\u2019t tell that I am not, then I cannot know that I am not.
JOHN: Right.
MARY: But then Descartes realizes that, while such a powerful and deceitful demon might deceive him about there being a physical world, it could not deceive him into thinking he exists when he doesn\u2019t. Not even such a demon could deceive Descartes about that.
JOHN: So you say. But look, Descartes admits that such a demon might mess with Descartes\u2019 mind in other ways too. For example, it could make Descartes go wrong in his reasoning.
MARY: Yes, that\u2019s true.
JOHN: But then Descartes \u2018proof\u2019 must be useless. Notice the word \u2018ergo\u2019 \u2013 therefore. Descartes has constructed a piece of reasoning, from the premise that he thinks to the conclusion that he exists. Correct?
MARY: It looks that way, yes.
JOHN: But then how does Descartes know that this little argument \u2013 I think, therefore, I am \u2013 is sound? Perhaps the demon is deluding Descartes into thinking it\u2019s sound, when it not. You see? Descartes\u2019 proof is a piece of reasoning, and Descartes cannot yet trust any of his reasoning, because the demon might be making him go wrong.
MARY: Okay, I see the problem. Or rather I see what you think<\/span> the problem is for Descartes. In fact, I think you have misunderstood him.
JOHN: How?
MARY: \u2018Cogito ergo sum\u2019 looks like an argument, a piece of reasoning, true. But it\u2019s not. It is something else. It is a performance.
JOHN: A performance? In what sense.
MARY: By doing some thinking \u2013 some doubting \u2013 Descartes shows<\/span> that he exists. He doesn\u2019t infer he exists. He actually demonstrates it, by thinking.
JOHN: So the cogito isn\u2019t an argument after all? An inference from the premise \u2018I think\u2019 to the conclusion \u2018I am\u2019?
MARY: Correct. If it were, then Descartes could not be sure an evil demon had not made his reasoning go wrong. But the cogito is actually a performance. Descartes proves he exists by engaging in an activity \u2013 by thinking, demonstrates he exists.
JOHN: But wouldn\u2019t another activity do just as well? Riding a bike, say? Wouldn\u2019t that demonstrate he exists?
MARY: No, because Descartes couldn\u2019t be sure he really was riding a bike. The evil demon might delude Descartes into thinking he\u2019s riding a bike, when he\u2019s not. But the demon cannot make Descartes think he\u2019s thinking when he\u2019s not.
JOHN: Hmm. I am still not sure Descartes has proved beyond all possible doubt that he exists. Let me think about it some more\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"