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"I think, therefore I exist" -- Rene Descartes
Philosophy, An introduction to the Art of Wondering - Sixth Edition -- pages 36/37 | 1994 | James L. Christian

Posted on 11/04/2002 7:52:21 AM PST by thinktwice

Descartes was a geometrician. He found only in mathematics and geometry the certainty that he required. Therefore, he used the methods of geometry to think about the world. Now, in geometry, one begins with a search for axioms, simple undeniable truths – for example, the axiom that a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. On the foundations of such “self-evident” propositions, whole geometrical systems can be built.

Following his geometrical model, Descartes proceeds to doubt everything – de onmibus dubitandum. He will suspend belief in the knowledge he learned from childhood, all those things “which I allowed myself in youth to be persuaded without having inquired into their truth.” Doubt will be his method, a deliberate strategy for proceeding toward certainty. (Descartes is a doubter not by nature, but by necessity. What he really wants is secure understanding so he can stop doubting.)

Descartes finds that he has no trouble doubting the existence of real objects/events – our senses too easily deceive us. And we can doubt the existence of a supernatural realm of reality – figments and fantasies are too often conjured by our native imaginations. But now his geometrical model pays off: in trying to doubt everything, he discovers something that he can’t doubt. What he can’t doubt is that he is doubting. Obviously, I exist if I doubt that I exist. My doubt that I exist proves that I exist, for I have to exist to be able to doubt. Therefore I can’t doubt that I exist. Hence, there is at least one fact in the universe that is beyond doubt. “I am, I exist is necessarily true each time that I pronounce it, or that I mentally conceive it.

Descartes thus becomes the author of the most famous phrase in Western philosophy: Cognito ergo sum, or, in his original French, Je pense, donc je suis. – I think, therefore I exist. With roots in St. Augustine, this is certainly one of the catchiest ideas yet created by the human mind.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Philosophy
KEYWORDS: descartes; existence; inconsequentiality; maudlinmumbling; myheadhurts; philosophy; proof; renedescartes; startthebombing; winecuresthis
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To: eastsider
Then of course, there is the Chinese version.

Cogito ergo dim sum.

141 posted on 11/04/2002 2:10:33 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
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To: William Wallace
Here's a thread that will not be fouled by our resident Constitutional Gilligan!

"I thinks, therefore I is...I thinks."---H.A.

142 posted on 11/04/2002 2:13:32 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
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To: Luis Gonzalez
Cogito ergo dim sum.
Have you ever had Chinese/German cuisine? An hour later, and you're hungry for power.
143 posted on 11/04/2002 2:13:34 PM PST by eastsider
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To: eastsider
"An hour later, and you're hungry for power."

ROTFLMAO!!!

144 posted on 11/04/2002 2:15:05 PM PST by Luis Gonzalez
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To: eastsider
Can one determine here on earth whether what one does with the gift(s) one is given deserves eternal reward or punishment?

What's it going to be, using your abilities or not using them?

Proper use of one's abilities is a path to success in this life and maybe the next, whereas wasting one's abilities is a sure path to failure in this life and maybe the next.

145 posted on 11/04/2002 2:38:14 PM PST by thinktwice
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To: thinktwice
Proper use ...
That's what I'm getting at. What criterion determines whether we're using any of our gifts properly?
146 posted on 11/04/2002 2:42:11 PM PST by eastsider
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To: eastsider
What criterion determines whether we're using any of our gifts properly?

Proper use of abilities, in my mind, is rational use -- a life of reason, so to speak.

147 posted on 11/04/2002 2:50:06 PM PST by thinktwice
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To: thinktwice
The problem I have with wisdom as the ultimate virtue is that it leaves open the possibility that irrational humans (Democrats?) have no purpose.
148 posted on 11/04/2002 3:07:49 PM PST by eastsider
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To: eastsider
the possibility that irrational humans (Democrats?) have no purpose.

Humans, by definition, are rational beings; meaning that irrational behavior is non-human behavior. Regarding Democrat irrationality, most choose that path as a result of indoctrination ... from public schools, for instance.

149 posted on 11/04/2002 3:17:43 PM PST by thinktwice
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To: thinktwice
Humans, by definition, are rational beings; meaning that irrational behavior is non-human behavior.
Artistotle's definition of man as a rational animal is a definition of man's nature; however, the agent of behavior is a person, not his nature. A person's choice to act irrationally by, say, killing himself, would not make him a non-human person, or, by extension, make his suicide non-human behavior.
150 posted on 11/04/2002 3:51:51 PM PST by eastsider
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To: eastsider
Artistotle's definition of man as a rational animal is a definition of man's nature; however, the agent of behavior is a person, not his nature. A person's choice to act irrationally by, say, killing himself, would not make him a non-human person, or, by extension, make his suicide non-human behavior.

Ambiguity provides excellent disguise when rationalizing irrational behavior.

151 posted on 11/04/2002 4:55:43 PM PST by thinktwice
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To: discostu
She only says that some people are horoic beings a lot have the nature of the looter.
152 posted on 11/04/2002 5:27:52 PM PST by weikel
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To: weikel
She only says that some people are horoic beings a lot have the nature of the looter.

In Ayn Rand's philosophy -- Objectivism -- today's democrats are the looters and people like Ronald Reagan are heroic.

153 posted on 11/04/2002 7:11:18 PM PST by thinktwice
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To: thinktwice
Basically yeah.
154 posted on 11/04/2002 7:13:41 PM PST by weikel
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To: weikel
The quote provided said she saw man as basically heroic. I can only go with what's in front of me.
155 posted on 11/04/2002 7:23:02 PM PST by discostu
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To: thinktwice
This has been disproved in the last thirty years by the continued existence of the Democrats.
156 posted on 11/04/2002 7:25:15 PM PST by Tench_Coxe
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To: discostu
The quote provided said she saw man as basically heroic. I can only go with what's in front of me.

Does that mean to say that you see man as basically depraved?

157 posted on 11/05/2002 6:41:56 AM PST by thinktwice
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To: thinktwice
Ambiguity?
158 posted on 11/05/2002 6:51:34 AM PST by eastsider
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To: thinktwice
I am, therefore I'll think - Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
159 posted on 11/05/2002 6:53:44 AM PST by Julliardsux
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To: thinktwice
I see man as basically lazy and similar to water in our desire to take the path of least resistance. Not energetic enough for either heroics or depravity on a truly mzjor scale.
160 posted on 11/05/2002 6:54:50 AM PST by discostu
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