Descartes’ cogito was partly motivated to prove the soul immortal
Evidence
Descartes started by declaring that only ideas he was absolutely certain of could possibly be true. Any idea subject to any doubt whatsoever he tossed on the metaphysical trash heap. … At this point, Descartes realized that the only thing that he could not doubt was that he doubted. And to doubt, one must think, and to think, one must exist. So thinking made him real: I think, therefore I am. But you don’t need a body to think. That’s already been doubted away. Something does the thinking. A disembodied mind, or the soul, does the thinking. Thus, Descartes concluded, “decay of the body does not imply the destruction of the mind.” Ergo, the soul exists. — Sheldon Solomon, Jeff Greenberg, Tom Pyszczynski, The Worm at the Core, 359
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Occultism’s spiritualism severs body and soul more cleanly than Descartes did — Theodor W. Adorno, Minima Moralia: Reflections from…, 264