- Incorrigibility
In
philosophy , incorrigibility is a property of a philosophical proposition, which implies that it is necessarily true simply by virtue of being believed. A common example of such a proposition isRené Descartes ' "cogito ergo sum " (I think, therefore I am).Johnathan Harrison has argued ["The incorrigibility of the cogito," Johnathan Harrison, "Mind: New Series," Vol. 93, No. XCIII, 1984.] that "" may be the wrong term, since it seems to imply (by the dictionary definition) [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Incorrigible] a sense that the beliefs cannot be "changed," which isn't actually true. In Harrison's view, the incorrigibility of a proposition actually implies something about the nature of "believing"---for example, that one must exist in order to believe---rather than the nature of the proposition itself.
For illustration, consider Descartes': I think, therefore I exist.Stated in incorrigible form, this could be: "That I believe that I exist implies that my belief is true." Harrison argues that a belief being true is really only incidental to the matter, that really what the cogito proves is that "belief" implies "existence." One could equally well say, "That I believe God exists implies that I exist," or "That I believe I do not exist implies that my belief is false."---and these would have the same essential meaning as the cogito.
Charles Raff ["Introspection and Incorrigibility," Charles Raff, "Philosophy and Phenomenological Research," Vol.27, No. 1, 1966.] draws a distinction between three types of incorrigibility:
* Type-1: It is logically necessary that, when the statement is sincerely made, it is true.
* Type-2: It is necessary that when the statement is believed to be true, it is true.
* Type-3: It is necessary that when the statement is true, it is believed to be true.It should be noted that type-2 and type-3 incorrigibility are logical converses, and therefore logically independent. Charles Raff argues thatintrospection is not type-1 incorrigible, but is in fact type-2 and type-3 incorrigible.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
