Philosophy A-Level
The cogito
What The cogito means in Philosophy A-Level, as defined for AQA.
Definitions of The cogito
Exam boards and our study guides word this term in slightly different ways. Learn the version your board uses.
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain The cogito in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: AQA
The recognition that while he is thinking he cannot doubt that he exists, grasped by reason alone without appeal to sense experience.
Even radical doubt presupposes a thinking subject, so the doubter's existence is certain whenever the thinker considers it.
Topics that use The cogito
- Reason as a source of knowledge (AQA A-Level)
- The limits of knowledge (AQA A-Level)
Related terms
- Empiricism
- A priori knowledge of existence
- Assessment of Descartes' response to scepticism
- Certainty and foundationalism
- Copy principle
- Hume's Fork
- Intuition
- Leibniz and necessary truths
Using The cogito in the exam
Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.
Practise Philosophy questions
Create a free account to answer exam-style questions on this topic and get feedback on your answers.
Start free
All Philosophy A-Level termsA week of Premium from your first lesson · Then the free plan continues · No card, no charge