The "I feel therefore I am" argument
By well-wisher
- 548 reads
Me: Why do I think?
I: Because I desire to think.
Me: But do I will that desire?
I: No it is instinctive/unconcious.
Me: So that desire to think could come from outside of me, from Descartes Deciever.
I: Yes.
Me: And what about the thoughts themselves.
I: They could be implanted. Thoughts after all are just information; facts and ideas.
Me: Why is it then that I think it is I who is thinking?
I: Because it feels as if I am thinking.
Me: Feels? Does that mean 'like a sensation?'.
I: Yes. I sense that I am thinking.
Me: But how do I know that that 'Sense of thinking' is any more reliable than my other 5 senses.
I: I don't.
Me: Ahh! But if I feel that I am thinking who is it that is doing that 'feeling'?
I: Could it be Descartes deciever who is feeling for me?
Me: No. No if someone else was feeling for me then it would be them who was feeling something and not I. For example, feelings of pleasure and pain. If someone else is feeling them then I am not.
I: The feelings themselves may be illusions.
Me: Yes but no one can feel them; experience them except I.
I: So thoughts can be implanted; feelings can be illusions but...
Me: But only I can be the feeler/experiencer.
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Example of how being a 'feeler' unlike 'thinking' can't be faked:
a) Thinking - A deceiver pops the thought 'Cogito ergo sum' into Descartes head and he thinks he thought it.
b) Feeling - Descartes pricks his finger and the deciever 'feels' for him but this means Descartes wouldn't feel the pain and the deceiver would.
As you can see, it is not even hypothetically possible to 'feel' in someones place but it is hypothetically possible to implant a thought into someones mind thus 'feeling' is something that only I, myself can do which makes feeling better evidence of my existence than thinking.
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