AdeleneDawner comments on The benefits of madness: A positive account of arationality - Less Wrong

101 Post author: Skatche 22 April 2011 07:43PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (121)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: AdeleneDawner 24 April 2011 04:39:28PM *  3 points [-]

Also, what was your reasoning for doubting that you exist? How was Descartes proof insufficient?

It's essentially circular. It assumes an "I" from the start. If you get rid of that assumption, you have to start with "something is thinking."

That's been acknowledged in philosophical circles for some time now, but I don't think many philosophers regard it as an important problem anymore. It's about as safe an assumption as you can possibly make.

If anyone wants to google this, keywords are "nonduality" and "Advaita". It probably deserves a memetic hazard warning, though.