Buffier and Descartes on Knowing the I
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Abstract This chapter examines Buffier’s understanding of the intimate sentiment of the I. The examination takes place against two backgrounds. One of them is an early modern discussion about self-evidence of the inner experience we have of our own mind. The other is Descartes’s theory of ideas and his account of how we encounter the I in our acts of thinking. Through an analysis comparing Buffier’s and Descartes’s discussions of how we come to have an inner experience of ourselves, this chapter investigates Buffier’s understanding of the structure of thought and shows how Buffier is led to think that the I is both simple and complex at once.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Seventeenth-Century Political and Philosophical Thought
Philosophy and Theoretical Science
Epistemology
Ethics
and Metaphysics
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Oxford University Press eBooks
- Pages
- 117–141
- Publication date
- 16 March 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter