Philosophy 1020 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Cogito Ergo Sum, Philosophical Skepticism, Primitive Notion
10 Jan 2019
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Strawson: basic argument deterministic views, can we have true free will. But we cannot for all suppose that we, who are having such thought, are nothing. For it is a contradiction to suppose that what thinks does not, at the very time when it is thinking, exist. Accordingly, this piece of knowledge i am thinking; therefore, i exist is the first and most certain of all to occur to anyone who philosophizes in an orderly way. In order for you to assert that claim you must exist, you are confirming the claim of your existence: p1. If x is thinking, then x exists: p2. X is thinking (because x is doubting: c1. Therefore, x exists: motus ponus, from the fact that we are thinking it does not seem to be entirely certain that we exist. But this does not require reflective knowledge, or the kind of knowledge that is acquired by means of demonstrations it is.
