Of course, if you can't doubt your existence then proof is inappropriate. — jamalrob
His point was that you cannot doubt your existence. It's not the kind of thing that can be doubted. I took that to be your own point. — jamalrob
Of course, if you can't doubt your existence then proof is inappropriate. — jamalrob
What counts as empirical is problematic. See Quine. But this is probably not the place.You can not doubt your own existence, but that doubt is in the empirical realm. — god must be atheist
Quine's Two Dogmas of Empiricism. — Banno
I have convinced myself that there is absolutely nothing in the world, no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies. Does it now follow that I too do not exist? No: if I convinced myself of something then I certainly existed. But there is a deceiver of supreme power and cunning who is deliberately and constantly deceiving me. In that case I too undoubtedly exist, if he is deceiving me; and let him deceive me as much as he can, he will never bring it about that I am nothing so long as I think that I am something. So after considering everything very thoroughly, I must finally conclude that this proposition, I am, I exist, is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.
“I am conscious, therefore I exist.” — Xtrix
If one cannot doubt one's existence, then why would one need an argument to prove that one exists?
Descartes decided to doubt as much as he could, without good reason, and found himself stuck at not being able to doubt the doubter. Wittgenstein pointed out that doubting can only occur against a background of certainty. Something must be held firm in order for there to be any doubt.
SO the cogito is not making the same point as Wittgenstein is making. Wittgenstein is saying we don't need the cogito. — Banno
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