Q&A: The Sciences of Freedom: Introduction
Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.
The Sciences of Freedom: Introduction
Question
Hello Rabbi,
Why does the Rabbi write in the introduction that according to the cogito, the existence of the mind/spirit is more well-founded than the existence of the body? After all, one could still argue that the existence of the thinking person comes by virtue of the body. The body is what produced the thought. And therefore the cogito proves nothing about any “spirit.”
Answer
You can argue whatever you want. But what the cogito shows is that there is someone thinking here—that is, that the mental exists. Now one can raise all sorts of possibilities about what that someone is. Does the body produce thoughts or not? But from the cogito there is no indication whatsoever of the existence of a body, whether there is one or there isn’t.
So in other words, the cogito is of no real use at all (or adds nothing) to the discussion.