Richard Watson (philosopher) Richard Watson (philosopher) Richard A. Watson (born 1931) is an American philosopher, speleologist and author. Watson taught philosophy at Washington University in St. Louis for forty years. He is considered one of the foremost living authorities on Descartes. He is an Emeritus Professor of Philosophy for Washington University in St. Louis. He has a degree in geology specializing in "paleoclimatology of 10,000 years ago." This involved the development of agrarian societies in the Fertile Crescent. From July 1965 to July 1967, he was president of the Cave Research Foundation. His book, "Cogito, Ergo Sum: a life of René Descartes" was
Cogito, ergo sum of other minds at this point. This is something that has to be thought through by each of us for ourselves, as we follow the course of the meditations. Second, he does not say that his existence is necessary; he says that "if he thinks", then necessarily he exists (see the instantiation principle). Third, this proposition "I am, I exist" is held true not based on a deduction (as mentioned above) or on empirical induction but on the clarity and self-evidence of the proposition. Descartes does not use this first certainty, the "cogito", as a foundation upon which to build