Rene Descartes

[Smoogles]

Favorite Quote: "I think therefore, I am." :idea: By: Rene Descartes

Because we are beings that doubt, and doubt being a thought, doubting this quote would be just thinking. Therefore, you are just proving this quote right. I love it.

[NickAdams]

I'm Godding therefore I am.;)

[sherlocksbaby]

Well, this famous quote is an argument, but it fails as such. The conclusion, existence, is presupposed and a necessary fact of the argument itself. He might as well have said "I am (I think.)"

[jgweed]

As an argument against his own hyperbolic doubt and fear of deception, it has some validity, but strictly speaking, the correct form would be something like "There is thought, therefore thinking is."
And Descartes presumes that there is a thinking substance, an I that is somewhat permanent and about which it makes sense to say that it "is."

[dreamsbegone]

Well, this famous quote is an argument, but it fails as such. The conclusion, existence, is presupposed and a necessary fact of the argument itself. He might as well have said "I am (I think.)"

well i have to disagree. descartes believes that thinking IS being itself. so without thinking you do not even exist which leads us back to the actual order of the quote.

[JBI]

I think am JBI, therefore I am, therefore you are, because you exist within my mind.

That's basically what he is saying, then he goes on to prove god exists by saying essentially, "I think god exists, therefore he exists."

[dreamsbegone]

That's basically what he is saying, then he goes on to prove god exists by saying essentially, "I think god exists, therefore he exists."

i guess by saying it in such term implies that god only exists because you think he exists, while god still exists even though many disbelievers think that he doesn't. but what i think what descartes is trying to do is establish a link between life and thinking...if you are brain dead , you are better off body dead too.

[jgweed]

As I remember, Descartes' was attempting, impressed with the methods of mathematics, to find something that was beyond both being deceived and not subject to the same kind of doubt as arose for example with sense-impressions or from conflicting authorities.
From this simple fact of doubting, and that he was doing the doubting, Descartes thought he had discovered something foundational to further reflection. When he proceeds to "prove" god's existence, it is by establishing that we have an innate conception of god, and that this is known as clearly and distinctly (a "test"), as is his cogito (Meditation 3).
It is important to note that after taking away all sure knowledge until he arrives at an irreducible truth, Descartes attempts piece by piece to reconstruct a world in which there are truths. If one follows the text carefully, I think one would avoid reducing his arguments to something as crude as I think God exists, there he exists.

[jaywalker]

Is this the same Descartes who thought that animals,having no souls, couldn't feel pain and he and his Pals were amazed at how the tortured rabbits could 'counterfeit' pain . Berk or Wot ?

[Trekker114]

"That's basically what he is saying, then he goes on to prove god exists by saying essentially, "I think god exists, therefore he exists."

I think Descartes first argument for God's existence could be summed up as: "I have the idea of a perfect being, but I am not perfect. Therefore, I can't be generating the idea; it can only be caused by the perfect being itself." (He claims that "there must be as much reality in the cause as in the effect", e.g. something hot can't come from something cold, and, according to him, something pefect can't come from something imperfect). The argument has been heavily criticized, but I think it's a little bit more subtle than: "I think God exists, therefore he exists."

[Lily Adams]

Cogito cogito, ergo cogito sum.

I can't believe no one has said that yet.

[Mr. Vandemar]

The only truths are concepts. Everything is a concept or idea.

I am a Platonist, if you can't tell already.

[Dori]

My psychology book said that if Descartes was a psychologist he would have said, "I think, therefore I am consistent."

[DooRag]

"I think, therefor I am" is nonsense.

"The only truths are concepts, Everything is a concept or idea"? haha

You are the last remaining Platonist on earth, congratulations.

Sherlocksbaby nailed it. Wonderfully concise explanation of why that quote needs to stop being used!!!!

[Scheherazade]

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