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2 - Understanding As Feeling and As a Concept

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2022

David R. Olson
David R. Olson
Affiliation:
University of Toronto
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Summary

Among the few things that Descartes (2004) was certain of was that he understands: “I am a thing that thinks: that is, a thing that doubts, affirms, denies, and understands.” These are the things he is, and we too are, conscious of. They make up what we think of as our minds. Yet understanding seems to be the most fundamental member of Descartes’s list. Descartes’s mind–body distinction and treating mind as something spiritual continues to haunt modern theories of the mind.

Keywords

feelingsconceptsconsciousness
Type
Chapter
Information
Making Sense
What It Means to Understand
 , pp. 9 - 30
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2022

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