Temporality in the Cogito structure

Abstract

Descartes’ Cogito concept combines a thought and substantial nature of the thinking mind in one judgment. This paradoxical entity arose many diffi culties which caused criticism from the first opponents of Descartes. Pierre Gassendi points one of the difficulties associated with the Cogito, raising the question of existence of memory assuming that a thought is a characteristic of the present and is totally devoid of the past. This question is being discussed by the correspondents of Descartes which approach the principle of Cogito as individuality of the soul and as a possibility of personal immortality. Descartes’ answer to the critics resulted not only in more in-depth approach to the problem of temporality and correlation of the individual and substance in the act of thinking, but also revealing new features in the structure of the Cogito, namely attributing of the Cogito to another view, which defines temporality of the thought.

Keywords:

temporality, Cogito, thinking substance, a single act of thought, the intellectual memory, doubt