Philosophical Works · Theme
Cogito Ergo Sum (I Think, Therefore I Am)
How Philosophical Works develops Cogito Ergo Sum (I Think, Therefore I Am).
The foundational certainty that one's own existence is proven by the very act of thinking or doubting, serving as the first principle from which all other knowledge is built.
Where it surfaces
- Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences
The cogito emerges as the first principle of philosophy, establishing the self as a thinking thing and providing a starting point for further knowledge.
- Discourse on the Method
The first principle of Descartes' philosophy: the certainty of his own existence as a thinking thing, immune to the most extravagant skeptical doubts.
- Meditations on the First Philosophy: In Which the Existence of God and the Immortality of the Soul Are Demonstrated
The mind, in doubting all things, discovers its own existence as the first certainty, establishing the foundation for all subsequent knowledge.
- Synopsis of the Six Following Meditations
In the Second Meditation, the mind finds that it must exist even while doubting all else, establishing the first certainty.
- Meditation II: Of the Nature of the Human Mind; and That It Is More Easily Known Than the Body
The central theme of this meditation: Descartes arrives at the indubitable truth of his own existence through the act of thinking, establishing the Cogito as the first principle of his philosophy.
- Letter of the Author to the French Translator of the Principles of Philosophy Serving for a Preface
The cogito is presented as the first principle: the existence of thought is indubitable even when doubting everything else.
- Selections from the Principles of Philosophy
The first certain knowledge: the act of thinking proves one's own existence, even amid universal doubt.
- Part I: Of the Principles of Human Knowledge
The first certain knowledge discovered: while doubting everything, the very act of thinking proves one's own existence.
- VII
The central theme of the chapter: the indubitable self-awareness that survives universal doubt.
- IX
Descartes clarifies that the certainty of 'I think, therefore I am' extends to all modes of thought, including the consciousness of seeing or walking.
- X
Descartes reaffirms the cogito as the first and most certain proposition in orderly philosophizing, foundational to his system.
- XI
The reasoning here extends the Cogito: the act of judging or perceiving any object simultaneously confirms the existence of the thinking mind.
