PHIL 1000H Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: A Priori And A Posteriori
17 Nov 2016
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Document Summary
People think it is a failure if it is thought of as an argument. Significance of the cogito: he has finally found certainty in this statement; knowledge of his own existence. I [in the cogito] is not physical, it is his mind/ soul. Descartes thinks the mind is an immaterial substance. Substance: a thing that has properties but is distinct form the properties [part 1 section. Descartes says the mind is like a shoebox; the mind holds ideas, perceptions, thoughts, memories, and they can change, but the shoebox/ mind stays the same. Hume thinks that the self is not a substance, but is a bundle of perceptions. [does not believe in the shoebox" at all] Thomas reid thinks that knowledge of your own existence is self-evident [knowing you exist is obvious]. Knowing you exist is a natural/ common sense belief. Reid is aware that he has certain thoughts, memories, etc.
