Due Apr 6

Cogito, Ergo Sum

Reading: Descartes, selections from the Discourse on Method (Blackboard).

Writing: Respond to ONE of the following prompts. Keep your response short, posting as a reply under the appropriate heading in the comments section:

1. Comment on the way that Descartes presents himself to the reader, quoting a relevant passage. On what ground does he recommend his experience as worthy of our interest?
2. In Part 2, Descartes introduces an architectural metaphor—one to which he recurs in Part 3. Quote a relevant line and then riff a bit on what this metaphor suggests as to the dimensions and implications of his intellectual project.
3. In Part 4, we encounter the famous line “I think, therefore I am.” Except our translator has rendered it as “I am thinking, therefore I exist.” What does Maclean’s translation get right about the meaning of the Latin phrase, “cogito, ergo sum”? Alternatively, what does it miss that the traditional phrasing gets right?
4. Having proven his own existence, Descartes goes on to argue the certainty of God’s existence. Quote a relevant line from this section and comment on the logic of his argument.