Cartesian AI
Synthese May 4, 2026 Giuseppe Pernagallo
Descartes' 'I think, therefore I am' sought an indubitable foundation for knowledge. This paper examines whether that foundation holds when cognitive tasks like reasoning and planning are delegated to AI. Distinguishing the cogito's epistemic function (certainty through self-awareness) from an ontological claim, it argues that delegation presupposes minimal acts of intention, and total delegation would undermine certainty, not existence. The concept of 'Cartesian AI' explains why AI creates the illusion of thought by operationalizing reason as computation without first-person self-relation. AI does not refute Descartes but shifts focus from metaphysical existence to the normative stakes of agency and responsibility.