Re: Query: Boku desu sentence meaning.

Marc Adler wrote:
On Nov 15, 3:07 pm, Bart Mathias <math...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:


Logically, it's "Je suis, donc je suis" with a bit of sleight-of-hand in
the first clause.


I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's fatal for the
argument. You could simply rephrase "If there's self-awareness, then
there exists a self," taking the person out altogether. In terms of
the further development of the argument, that's just as valid, isn't
it?

I see the "rephrase" as valid, in the sense of awareness that doesn't include things like being aware of unicorns or ghosts, etc. In that sense, one can't be aware of something that doesn't exist.

But I don't think it is a paraphrase. Descartes left out the "if," for one thing.

Back when I was taking first-semester freshman philosophy, I had a terrifying moment when I understood Hume's (I think, or was it Berkeley's?) professed doubt of his own existence. It didn't last long, and I soon decided it doesn't really matter whether I'm me or not, so to speak, question-begging-wise. But logically does a self have to be *my*self?

Bart
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Query: Boku desu sentence meaning.
    ... the first clause. ... I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's fatal for the ... You could simply rephrase "If there's self-awareness, ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Query: Boku desu sentence meaning.
    ... I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's fatal for the ... You could simply rephrase "If there's self-awareness, ... when my son doesn't think that I am most aware of his existence. ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Query: Boku desu sentence meaning.
    ... I see what you're saying, but I don't think it's fatal for the ... You could simply rephrase "If there's self-awareness, ... I see the "rephrase" as valid, in the sense of awareness that doesn't ... He felt that Descartes should have ...
    (sci.lang.japan)
  • Re: Marshmallows
    ... In normal use, avoid "whom" like the plague, consigning it ... pedantic niche that it deserves to be ... rephrase the sentence to eliminate the need. ... attention from what we're saying to how we're saying it, ...
    (alt.usage.english)
  • Re: Compiler cant find modules!
    ... I took the "Not" to be referring to the imediately preceeding phrase, ... instead referring to the first clause of the preceding sentence, ... on AIX (which is the same thing as saying that it *IS* implied). ...
    (comp.lang.fortran)