Descartes' Cogito
Descartes' Cogito

Author: Husain Sarkar

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 2003-02-27

Total Pages: 327

ISBN-13: 1139442031

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Perhaps the most famous proposition in the history of philosophy is Descartes' cogito 'I think, therefore I am'. Husain Sarkar claims in this provocative interpretation of Descartes that the ancient tradition of reading the cogito as an argument is mistaken. It should, he says, be read as an intuition. Through this interpretative lens, the author reconsiders key Cartesian topics: the ideal inquirer, the role of clear and distinct ideas, the relation of these to the will, memory, the nature of intuition and deduction, the nature, content and elusiveness of 'I', and the tenability of the doctrine of the creation of eternal truths. Finally, the book demonstrates how Descartes' attempt to prove the existence of God is foiled by a new Cartesian Circle.

I Think Therefore I Am Wrong
I Think Therefore I Am Wrong

Author: Howard Rankin

Publisher:

Published: 2019-10-24

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 9781086564518

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"Human beings aren't logical, they're psychological, with the emphasis on the psycho," wrote Howard Rankin in his book Power Talk; The Art of Effective Communication. In I Think Therefore I Am Wrong, Dr Rankin explores the various processes of thinking and shows how for the most part, we are not logical but rationalizers, story-tellers interested in consistency and emotional comfort than the truth. The book takes us through the latest information in cognitive neuroscience, told with Rankin's uncanny knack of making scientific ideas easy to grasp and wrapping the details in humor. Who would have thought cognitive neuroscience could be that funny! The overall message also has some dark undertones as Rankin shows how and why, the conventional and social media have major influences on thoughts and beliefs and how that impacts us in the present and the future of civilization. Rankin explores traditional concepts of defense mechanisms and relates them to the many cognitive biases that have been identified, as we march to an ever more narcissistic view of 'reality'. These biases effect every aspect of life and Rankin explores how they influence key institutions like healthcare, the law, education as well as relationships. Rankin also offers suggestions and tools on how we can as individuals improve emotional control -- a critical component for more critical and objective thinking.

Descartes' Error
Descartes' Error

Author: Antonio Damasio

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2005-09-27

Total Pages: 338

ISBN-13: 014303622X

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Since Descartes famously proclaimed, "I think, therefore I am," science has often overlooked emotions as the source of a person’s true being. Even modern neuroscience has tended, until recently, to concentrate on the cognitive aspects of brain function, disregarding emotions. This attitude began to change with the publication of Descartes’ Error in 1995. Antonio Damasio—"one of the world’s leading neurologists" (The New York Times)—challenged traditional ideas about the connection between emotions and rationality. In this wondrously engaging book, Damasio takes the reader on a journey of scientific discovery through a series of case studies, demonstrating what many of us have long suspected: emotions are not a luxury, they are essential to rational thinking and to normal social behavior.

I Think, Therefore I Am
I Think, Therefore I Am

Author: Lesley Levene

Publisher: Michael O'Mara

Published: 2013-04-04

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781782430247

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I Think, Therefore I Am is the ideal way to take the fear out of philosophy. Written in an accessible and entertaining style,I Think, Therefore I Am explains how and why philosophy began, and how the ways in which we live, learn, argue, vote and even spend our money have their origins in philosophical thought.

I Drink Therefore I Am
I Drink Therefore I Am

Author: Roger Scruton

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2013-01-03

Total Pages: 241

ISBN-13: 1408194694

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Here Scruton explains the connection between good wine and serious thought with a heady mix of humour and philosophy. We are familiar with the medical opinion that a daily glass of wine is good for the health and also the rival opinion that any more than a glass or two will set us on the road to ruin. Whether or not good for the body, Scruton argues, wine, drunk in the right frame of mind, is definitely good for the soul. And there is no better accompaniment to wine than philosophy. By thinking with wine, you can learn not only to drink in thoughts but to think in draughts. This good-humoured book offers an antidote to the pretentious clap-trap that is written about wine today and a profound apology for the drink on which civilisation has been founded. In vino veritas.

The Deepest Human Life
The Deepest Human Life

Author: Scott Samuelson

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2014-04-03

Total Pages: 231

ISBN-13: 022613041X

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This accessible and thought-provoking introduction to philosophy shows how the eternal questions can shed light on our lives and struggles. These days, we generally leave philosophical matters to professional philosophers. Scott Samuelson thinks this is tragic, for our lives as well as for philosophy. In The Deepest Human Life, he restores philosophy to its proper place at the center of our humanity, rediscovering it as our most profound effort toward understanding, as a way of life that anyone can live. Exploring the works of some of history’s most important thinkers in the context of the everyday struggles of his students, Samuelson guides readers through the most vexing quandaries of existence—and shows just how enriching the examined life can be. Samuelson begins at the beginning: with Socrates, and the method he developed for approaching our greatest mysteries. From there he embarks on a journey through the history of philosophy, demonstrating how it is encoded in our own personal quests for meaning. Through heartbreaking stories, humanizing biographies, accessible theory, and evocative interludes like “On Wine and Bicycles” or “On Zombies and Superheroes,” Samuelson invests philosophy with the personal and vice versa. The result is a book that is at once a primer and a reassurance—that the most important questions endure, coming to life in each of us. Winner of the 2015 Hiett Prize in the Humanities

Meditations, Objections, and Replies
Meditations, Objections, and Replies

Author: René Descartes

Publisher: Hackett Publishing

Published: 2006-03-30

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 1603840567

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This edition features reliable, accessible translations; useful editorial materials; and a straightforward presentation of the Objections and Replies, including the objections from Caterus, Arnauld, and Hobbes, accompanied by Descartes' replies, in their entirety. The letter serving as a reply to Gassendi--in which several of Descartes' associates present Gassendi's best arguments and Descartes' replies--conveys the highlights and important issues of their notoriously extended exchange. Roger Ariew's illuminating Introduction discusses the Meditations and the intellectual environment surrounding its reception.

Being Wrong
Being Wrong

Author: Kathryn Schulz

Publisher: Harper Collins

Published: 2011-01-04

Total Pages: 418

ISBN-13: 0061176052

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To err is human. Yet most of us go through life assuming (and sometimes insisting) that we are right about nearly everything, from the origins of the universe to how to load the dishwasher. In Being Wrong, journalist Kathryn Schulz explores why we find it so gratifying to be right and so maddening to be mistaken. Drawing on thinkers as varied as Augustine, Darwin, Freud, Gertrude Stein, Alan Greenspan, and Groucho Marx, she shows that error is both a given and a gift—one that can transform our worldviews, our relationships, and ourselves.

Cogito?
Cogito?

Author: Joseph Almog

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2008-03-21

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13: 0199713928

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Decartes' maxim Cogito, Ergo Sum (from his Meditations) is perhaps the most famous philosophical expression ever coined. Joseph Almog is a Descartes analyst whose last book WHAT AM I? focused on the second half of this expression, Sum--who is the "I" who is existing-and-thinking and how does this entity somehow incorporate both body and mind? This volume looks at the first half of the proposition--cogito. Almog calls this the "thinking man's paradox": how can there be, in the the natural world and as part and parcel of it, a creature that... thinks? Descartes' proposition declares that such a fact obtains and he maintains that it is self-evident; but as Almog points out, from the point of view of Descartes' own skepticism, it is far from obvious that there could be a thinking-man. How can it be that a thinking human be both part of the natural world and yet somehow distinct and separate from it? How did "thinking" arise in an otherwise "thoughtless" universe and what does it mean for beings like us to be thinkers? Almog goes back to the Meditations, and using Descartes' own aposteriori cognitive methodology--his naturalistic, scientific, approach to the study of man--tries to answer the question.