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I disagree, Descartes believes that he had proven the existence of "a priori" thought, a place from which thinking could be conducted without doubt - that was t

I disagree, Descartes believes that he had proven the existence of "a priori" thought, a place from which thinking could be conducted without doubt - that was the point of his project. That place is also the only reliable locus of personhood in his view. Future thinkers who talked about "embodied" thinking, were conceiving of a personhood that could exist before that a priori consciousness, rather than as a doubtful thing perceived by it.

ElBarto 8y ago
Well, again that is not the same thing. It's about 'personhood' only in the sense of existence. To quote Wikipedia: "While other knowledge could be a figment of imagination, deception, or mistake, Descartes asserted that the very act of doubting one's own existence served—at minimum—as proof of the reality of one's own mind; there must be a thinking entity—in this case the self—for there to be a thought."
- tomlock 8y ago
  The thinking entity that is proven to exist is the person. To descartes that thinking entity is the very core and fundamental unit of the person. The body and the interactions with others is irrelevant to that core.
  - ElBarto 8y ago
    It's the 'person' in a totally different sense than what this article discusses.
    - tomlock 8y ago
      The differences are due to the logic and perspectives of the positions, not the concept of a 'person' itself. It's a similar difference to the concept of a person under existentialism as contrasted with cartesian dualism.
  - scooble 8y ago
    I'm not sure that is right. From the proposition 's runs' I can validly infer that s exists. This does not commit me to the view that running is fundamental to s's personhood. Similarly, the claim that if s thinks then s exists does not entail that a further claim that thinking is central to s's personhood.
    - tomlock 8y ago
      > This does not commit me to the view that running is fundamental to s's personhood. That is not Descartes conclusion or my conclusion. To Descartes, the person as experienced in a priori thought has a special primacy over all other existing things. While "s" may be doubted due to its a posteriori nature, the self is fundamentally undoubtable in its existence, hence "I think therefore I am". To Descartes, the existence of a priori thought is the building block of all logic and personhood.

ElBarto 8y ago

Well, again that is not the same thing. It's about 'personhood' only in the sense of existence. To quote Wikipedia: "While other knowledge could be a figment of imagination, deception, or mistake, Descartes asserted that the very act of doubting one's own existence served—at minimum—as proof of the reality of one's own mind; there must be a thinking entity—in this case the self—for there to be a thought."

tomlock 8y ago
The thinking entity that is proven to exist is the person. To descartes that thinking entity is the very core and fundamental unit of the person. The body and the interactions with others is irrelevant to that core.
- ElBarto 8y ago
  It's the 'person' in a totally different sense than what this article discusses.
  - tomlock 8y ago
    The differences are due to the logic and perspectives of the positions, not the concept of a 'person' itself. It's a similar difference to the concept of a person under existentialism as contrasted with cartesian dualism.
- scooble 8y ago
  I'm not sure that is right. From the proposition 's runs' I can validly infer that s exists. This does not commit me to the view that running is fundamental to s's personhood. Similarly, the claim that if s thinks then s exists does not entail that a further claim that thinking is central to s's personhood.
  - tomlock 8y ago
    > This does not commit me to the view that running is fundamental to s's personhood. That is not Descartes conclusion or my conclusion. To Descartes, the person as experienced in a priori thought has a special primacy over all other existing things. While "s" may be doubted due to its a posteriori nature, the self is fundamentally undoubtable in its existence, hence "I think therefore I am". To Descartes, the existence of a priori thought is the building block of all logic and personhood.