The Shape of Thought: Subject, Executor, Author
Abstract
Descartes conspicuous realisation in the 17th century that reason alone could not validate itself led inexorably to the idea that God must be the form of metaphysical force that could supply the ultimate support that would allow us to know our own thoughts for certain. Similarly, Hume’s extraordinary insight in the 18th century that our experiences are not intrinsically connected in terms of how we enjoy them led him to require that something natural (viz. Nature itself) must be posited to hold them together and put us back into the world of common sense.
This paper takes its departure from these self-supporting Cartesian and Humean claims and then tries to show how various other intellectual ideas and developments can be explained using a set of more general circular arguments (both virtuous and the vicious) that are framed in broadly Žizekian terms.
Keywords
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