Descartes’ Cogito: Saved from the Great Shipwreck

Perhaps the most famous proposition in the history of philosophy is Descartes’ cogito “I think therefore I am”. Husain Sarkar claims in this provocative new 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 new interpretative lens, Sarkar reconsiders key Cartesian topics. He demonstrates how Descartes’ attempt to prove the existence of God is foiled by a new Cartesian Circle.