Discussion On the Circularity of the Cogito

The Cartesian method is an admirable instance of the constant endeavor of philosophy to cut through received opinion by deliberately establishing a sounder basis for belief through specifying its grounds more completely. In this, Descartes is part of the great tradition of reconstructive analysis from Socrates, through Kant, to Dewey. That original efforts tend to draw criticism is no more surprising than that they generate wholly new directions for further inquiry. There is value in both support and opposition, and if I place myself with the latter, it is a like tribute to the seminal value of Descartes' observations