Will, Comprehension, I

Descartes' assertion 'I am' seems to beg the question, since 'I can doubt' is one of his premises. Regardless, it is his other conclusion, namely 'I am a thinking being', that has generated controversy over the subsequent centuries. As, perhaps, Kant best shows, the problem is not whether or not the I exists, but what the I is, for, e. g. in his system, it can denote a synthesis of appearances, the synthesizer of appearances, or the initiator of a physiological process. Similarly, Formaterialism's recognition of two I's--the origin of Will and the terminus of Comprehension--on the grounds that there are some irrefutable features of ordinary experience that 'I' denotes, the nature or natures of which are open to further clarification, suffices to establish the existence of an I.