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I Think Therefore I Am: Descartes’ Cogito Ergo Sum Explained

17th-century philosopher Descartes’ exultant declaration — “I think, therefore I am” — is his defining philosophical statement. This article explores its meaning, significance, and how it altered the course of philosophy forever.

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P erhaps Western philosophy’s most famous statement, “I think, therefore I am” is actually a rather confusing translation of its Latin original, cogito ergo sum . A clearer translation might be, “I am thinking, therefore I exist.”

Even with a less ambiguous translation, however, we might still wonder why this statement is so celebrated.

Doesn’t it just express something really obvious?

Well, Descartes was not merely conveying a platitude when he coined these famous words.

For him, “I am thinking, therefore I exist” is a crucial example of a statement which, when thought, cannot be false — and thus a significant step in his search for certain, irrefutable knowledge.

Indeed, the brilliance of cogito ergo sum — and why it changed Western philosophy forever — really becomes clear once we consider its philosophical background, Descartes’ motivations, and the radical un certainty that brought it about…

Descartes’ search for certainty, via relentless methodic doubt

I t’s a cool 1640 night in Leiden, Netherlands, and French philosopher René Descartes picks up his pen…⁣ “I am here quite alone,” he writes, “and at last I will devote myself sincerely and without reservation to the general demolition of my opinions.”⁣

What better way to spend the night?

But Descartes was not without reason: in his work as a mathematician, he worried that if the foundations of knowledge were not completely solid, anything built upon them would inevitably collapse.

If we want to establish real, irrefutable certainty about reality, Descartes thinks, we must be strict in our approach.

He thus decides that if there is reason to doubt the truth of something — no matter how slim the doubt — then it should be discarded as false.⁣ In his own words:

if I am able to find in each [aspect of an opinion] some reason to doubt, this will suffice to justify my rejecting the whole.

And with his demolition — or methodic doubt , as it’s come to be known — Descartes doesn’t intend to focus on each of his opinions one by one; rather he intends to target the foundations which prop them up:

for owing to the fact that the destruction of the foundations of necessity brings with it the downfall of the rest of the edifice, I shall only in the first place attack those principles upon which all my former opinions rested.

René Descartes (1596 - 1650), meaning business.

With this strict criteria for truth in mind, and his targets established, it’s not long before — as depicted with masterful drama in his Meditations on First Philosophy — Descartes struggles to feel convinced by the existence or reliability of, well, anything.

Descartes asserts that most if not all of his opinions are based upon his experiences of the world through his five senses.

His senses, however, are not always trustworthy — when he dreams or hallucinates, for instance, his experiences do not align to reality.

Reflecting on this point, Descartes wonders if he can be sure he’s even awake right now , writing:

How often has it happened to me that in the night I dreamt that I found myself in this particular place, that I was dressed and seated near the fire, whilst in reality I was lying undressed in bed! At this moment it does indeed seem to me that it is with eyes awake that I am looking at this paper; that this head which I move is not asleep, that it is deliberately and of set purpose that I extend my hand and perceive it; what happens in sleep does not appear so clear nor so distinct as does all this. But in thinking over this I remind myself that on many occasions I have in sleep been deceived by similar illusions, and in dwelling carefully on this reflection I see so manifestly that there are no certain indications by which we may clearly distinguish wakefulness from sleep that I am lost in astonishment...

Have you ever, like Descartes, woken from a dream and thought, “but my God, that seemed so real”? Have you ever hallucinated your socks off? Have you ever sworn to have witnessed something when someone else swears to have witnessed something else?

As Descartes so eloquently describes, when our perception of the world fails us, it can be jarring.

We take it for granted that our experience is authentic, so when it proves to be false it’s like a bucket of ice water to the face: “oh right,” you think, “my perception is not infallible — maybe I don’t always experience the real, true world.”

Are the dots above black or white? Optical illusions reveal just how easily our brains can be tricked or misled by everyday patterns.

But, according to Descartes’s strict criteria for truth outlined above, where does that leave us?

If the authenticity of our experience can occasionally be doubted, then that is enough for Descartes to dismiss it as absolutely unreliable: that our senses can sometimes mislead us without our knowing suggests that they could mislead us all the time. He writes:

All that up to the present time I have accepted as most true and certain I have learned either from the senses or through the senses; but it is sometimes proved to me that these senses are deceptive, and it is wiser not to trust entirely to anything by which we have once been deceived.

And, if we cannot trust information obtained from our senses, then how can we confirm the existence of an external world?

Maybe our brains are just in vats somewhere, hooked up to a load of computers, and all this ‘experience’ is mere simulation.

Or maybe nothing physical exists at all and this is all just one big hallucination — everything is an illusion, a figment of the mental realm, or even the conjurings of an Evil Demon determined to mislead us about the true nature of reality...

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Descartes: are our experiences merely the conjurings of a God-like deceiver?

D escartes himself reflects on this latter idea: that the world is created not by a good God but by a God-like deceiver. He writes:

I shall then suppose, not that God who is supremely good and the fountain of truth, but some evil demon not less powerful than deceitful, has employed his whole energies in deceiving me; I shall consider that the heavens, the earth, colors, figures, sound, and all other external things are nought but the illusions and dreams of which this demon has availed himself in order to lay traps for my credulity...

Can we ever know for certain if the world we perceive is actually reality, rather than, say, a computer simulation?

And it’s not just our sensory capabilities that can be thrown into doubt, thinks Descartes: our ability to reason could also be hopelessly impaired.

If we have reasoned incorrectly before, Descartes notes, how can we ever know for sure that we are reasoning correctly now?

Maybe 2 + 2 really equals 5, not 4, and it is again the workings of an Evil Demon that makes us think differently.

Poor old Descartes got himself into a right state over all this:

So serious are the doubts into which I have been thrown as a result of yesterday’s meditations that I can neither put them out of my mind nor see any way of resolving them. It feels as if I have fallen unexpectedly into a deep whirlpool which tumbles me around so that I can neither stand on the bottom nor swim up to the top.

By this point frantic with worry, Descartes seeks to repair some of the damage caused by his relentless doubting by groping around for something — anything — we can be absolutely certain of.

And, after a while, he finds it.

I think, therefore I am

A s noted at the beginning, a clearer translation of Descartes’ definitive statement might be, “I am thinking, therefore I exist.” Regardless, in his exultant declaration — cogito ergo sum! — Descartes assures himself of his own existence.

Phew. Mop that brow, eh René: at last, here is something of which we can be absolutely certain.

It is impossible to doubt the existence of your own thoughts, because in the act of doubting, you are thinking.

The famous formulation “I think, therefore I am” actually appears in Descartes’ earlier 1637 work, Discourse on the Method .

In his Meditations on First Philosophy , the same thought is stated slightly differently, coming at the end of a glorious passage in which Descartes lays out the impossibility of doubting his own existence (or, indeed, of being deceived about it):

But I was persuaded that there was nothing in all the world, that there was no heaven, no earth, that there were no minds, nor any bodies: was I not then likewise persuaded that I did not exist? Not at all; of a surety I myself did exist merely because I thought of something . But there is some deceiver or other, very powerful and very cunning, who ever employs his ingenuity in deceiving me. Then without doubt I exist also if he deceives me, and let him deceive me as much as he will, he can never cause me to be nothing so long as I think that I am something. So that after having reflected well and carefully examined all things, we must come to the definite conclusion that this proposition: I am, I exist , is necessarily true each time that I pronounce it, or that I mentally conceive it.

The importance of cogito ergo sum

D escartes believed his discovery of the Cogito to be hugely significant, for it withstands all the skepticism you can throw at it. When expressed, it cannot be false .

Even if you doubt the reliability of your senses, and even if you doubt the reliability of your reason (i.e. the two main sources for knowledge), the Cogito remains true.

For, however wrong you are in your estimation of reality, however warped your use of reason, you can never be wrong about the fact of your own existence: in order to think you are wrong about something, in order to wrongly use reason, there has to be a you that exists to be wrong.

So, Descartes establishes his base, his solid foundation for certain, indubitable knowledge: I am, I exist.

From this point on in his Meditations on First Philosophy , Descartes investigates what the nature of this “I” might be (concluding it is a “thing which thinks”). He also attempts to rebuild all human knowledge and establish proofs for the existence of, among other things, God.

Alas, his work here is generally acknowledged to not quite make up for his initial demolition job.

We may have certainty with the Cogito , but the possible unreliability of our senses and reason doesn’t leave much else.

Through absolutely bulldozing our confidence in the existence of anything but our thoughts, Descartes inadvertently created two separate realms: the mental and the physical.

The mental “thing which thinks” we can be sure exists (however deceived or deluded that existence may be); the physical world needs to, somehow, be linked to it.

Believe it or not, philosophers have been trying to bridge this explanatory gap ever since.

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Is there an answer to descartes’ methodic doubt the influence of “i think, therefore i am”.

T here are a number of deep epistemological and metaphysical issues exposed by Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy , which is why it’s perceived to mark the beginning of modern philosophy in the Western tradition.

Combine that with its highly accessible, dramatized style, and it’s no wonder that this short text is still pored over by undergraduate students to this day: Meditations on First Philosophy is essential reading for anyone interested in philosophy.

For Descartes’ doubting leaves us with a number of rather alarming concerns: do our senses deceive us? Is any of our knowledge actually valid? Are our reasoning abilities reliable? Is perception reality? How can we bridge the gap between the mental and the physical? What is the self? Is the existence of everything a mere figment of my imagination?

The philosophical position of solipsism (see our solipsism explainer here ) takes Descartes’ skepticism in these areas to their apparent logical conclusion: we cannot have knowledge (or assert the existence) of anything beyond our own minds.

Of course, the solipsist position has prompted a vast literature on whether the skepticism expressed by Descartes is actually anything to worry about — including by the 17th-century philosophers John Locke ( see our explainer on Locke’s tabula rasa here ) and George Berkeley ( see our explainer on Berkeley’s subjective idealism here ) — which has in turn spawned commentaries on the limits to what we can know, as well as just how our existences are tied to that of the world around us.

Is Descartes’ approach to knowledge-building reasonable? Is certainty actually required for knowledge? How else might knowledge be construed?

We explore these themes further in our solipsism explainer , our article on whether the world around us is real , as well as our epistemology reading list .

But to conclude this article, we can say that while a favorite pastime of philosophers these days is to show where Descartes went wrong, for many his were the first words to inspire further exploration into Western philosophy; it is thus difficult to view his project in Meditations on First Philosophy without affection.

For, regardless of the fractures, uncertainty, and endless confusion he caused with his methodic doubt, one thing Descartes gave us remains certain for all who think it: cogito ergo sum .

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What Does “I Think, Therefore I Am” Really Mean?

René Descartes’ observation that “I think, therefore I am” is one of philosophy’s most famous sayings. But what does it actually mean? This article explores Cartesian thought, particularly Descartes’ epistemology.

Descartes is often referred to as the ‘father of modern philosophy’ due to his groundbreaking approach to philosophical enquiry. He was one of the first notable figures to completely abandon Scholastic Aristotelianism, a school of thought which had dominated European university teaching for centuries. He was also responsible for developing a modern theory of mind-body dualism and promoting a new method of science which was grounded in experiments and scientific observations. However, Descartes is best-known among philosophers for his system of methodical doubt (also known as Cartesian doubt, for obvious reasons!). As we will see, he was highly skeptical of any claim to truth by past philosophers. He also doubted the dogma presented as truth by 17th century religious authorities. Descartes even questioned the reliability of our individual senses and cognitive faculties. So, what is truth? Is there anything we can confidently point to and accept as fact? These questions eventually led Descartes to develop one of his most famous dictums: Cogito, Ergo Sum or “I think, therefore I am”.

The Origins of “I Think, Therefore I Am: René Descartes’ Life

René Descartes (1596-1650) was a French mathematician, scientist and philosopher. He was born and raised in France, but traveled extensively around Europe and spent most of his working life in the Dutch Republic.

Descartes was well-known during his lifetime for his commitment to open dialogue with other philosophers. He invited other thinkers to publish responses to his work, then he collected them and responded to their reflections in turn. After a successful academic career, Descartes spent the last year of his life in Sweden, tutoring Queen Christina (although apparently the two didn’t get on!). Descartes died of pneumonia in February 1650, having earned fame as one of Europe’s most famous philosophers.

Descartes and the Meditations on First Philosophy

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In 1641, Descartes published his Meditations on First Philosophy. He wrote the work in Latin and it contains critical responses from thinkers including Thomas Hobbes and Pierre Gassendi (as well as Descartes’ replies to them).

The Meditations are important because they set out Descartes’ epistemology . Descartes is seeking a specific kind of knowledge which some academics have referred to as ‘perfect knowledge’. Descartes describes this in the Meditations thus: “[As] soon as we think that we correctly perceive something, we are spontaneously convinced that it is true. Now if this conviction is so firm that it is impossible for us ever to have any reason for doubting what we are convinced of, then there are no further questions for us to ask: we have everything that we could reasonably want” (Cottingham et al, 1984).

Descartes believes that perfect knowledge requires us never to have any reason whatsoever to doubt it. In other words, the absence of doubt is what makes perfect knowledge. This is a very high standard to apply to any given statement of supposed fact! Still, in the Meditations Descartes persists in trying to establish various items of knowledge that we can rely on with absolute certainty.

Cogito Ergo Sum, or “I Think, Therefore I am”, in the Meditations

Descartes spends much of the first part of the Meditations establishing how and why everything we assume to be true can be doubted . He establishes that all his thoughts might well be mistaken. Fortunately, help is at hand. It comes in the form of his ‘Cogito Ergo Sum’, which we will henceforth refer to here as the ‘Cogito’.

At the start of the ‘Second Meditation’, Descartes observes the following:

“I have convinced myself that there is absolutely nothing in the world, no sky, no earth, no minds, no bodies. Does it now follow that I too do not exist? No: if I convinced myself of something then I certainly existed. But there is a deceiver of supreme power and cunning who is deliberately and constantly deceiving me. In that case I too undoubtedly exist, if he is deceiving me; and let him deceive me as much as he can, he will never bring it about that I am nothing so long as I think that I am something. So after considering everything very thoroughly, I must finally conclude that this proposition, I am , I exist , is necessarily true whenever it is put forward by me or conceived in my mind.” (Cottingham et al, 1984)

Let’s unpack this passage a little bit. Descartes first asks whether he can even be sure that he exists. But he then realizes this isn’t in doubt, because if he can convince himself of something then he must exist.

He then argues that even if an all-powerful, evil demon tried to deceive Descartes into thinking that he exists when he actually doesn’t, Descartes must exist in order for the demon to try and deceive him in the first place. Therefore whenever he thinks, he exists.

Although it’s not spelled out word for word here, Descartes later clarified this position through his famous ‘Cogito’ i.e. the philosophical saying ‘I think, therefore I am’. Even though Descartes has previously argued that the existence of his physical body can be doubted , the existence of his thinking cannot. Philosopher Barry Stroud helped to explain this by noting: “A thinker obviously could never be wrong in thinking ‘I think’”, and “no one who thinks could think falsely that he exists” (Stroud, 2008).

Of course, there have been plenty of criticisms of Descartes’ Cogito. But this is the basic meaning attached to his most famous and thought-provoking(!) dictum.

Further Points of Discussion Concerning “I Think, Therefore I Am”

What’s most interesting about this phrase is how personal it is to the interlocutor who speaks it aloud. The phrase has to be in the first-person and falls apart if we change it to the third-person e.g. “Descartes thinks, therefore he is.” I can’t say with any unshakeable certainty that Descartes is thinking. I can only assert my own thinking beyond any reasonable doubt.

The Cogito also ceases to function if we change the tense of the phrase. I cannot say: “I existed last weekend, because I was thinking then.” What if I’m misremembering events from last weekend? Doubt instantly floods into this phrase. The Cogito is grounded in the idea that we cannot try and think away what we are thinking right now in the present.

How to Define the “I” or the Self in the Cogito Ergo Sum

Many philosophers have discussed what Descartes is referring to when he says “I” in this sentence. Particularly since Descartes himself states: “But I do not yet have a sufficient understanding of what this ‘I’ is, that now necessarily exists” (Cottingham et al, 1984). In other words, Descartes has established that he exists, but doesn’t seem to know what he is.

Pierre Gassendi was one of the first thinkers to point out that we can’t be sure what the “I” means. Therefore the only thing that Descartes can reliably say is that “thoughts are happening” or “thinking is occurring” because we don’t know from this sentence that an entity is thinking. There is no evidence from the Cogito for the existence of a rational thinking thing.

Descartes and the Influence of “I Think, Therefore I Am” on Later Philosophy

Descartes would probably have been surprised by the influence of his Cogito on later thought. But the Meditations involve a radical shift in the history of philosophy . Rather than debating “what is true”, Descartes asked “of what can I be certain?”. In doing so, he removed the authority of various bodies (particularly the Church) to claim truth and instead showed how certainty relies on our individual judgements.

In most modern societies, God is not accepted as the ultimate guarantor of truth. Instead, human beings are their own guarantors, equipped with reason and the ability to doubt. Thanks to this shift, Descartes is often credited with inspiring the Enlightenment to look outside religious doctrine for a proper understanding of the world.

Bibliography

Cottingham, J., Stoothoff, R. and Murdoch, D., 1984. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes . 1st ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Stroud, Barry, 2008. “Our Debt to Descartes,” in A Companion to Descartes , ed. Janet Broughton and John Carriero, Oxford: Blackwell.

Who Was Christina of Sweden? Queen, Arts Patron, & Political Conniver

By Rachel Ashcroft MSc Comparative Literature, PhD Renaissance Philosophy Rachel is a contributing writer and journalist with an academic background in European languages, literature and philosophy. She has an MA in French and Italian and an MSc in Comparative Literature from the University of Edinburgh. Rachel completed a PhD in Renaissance conceptions of time at Durham University. Now living back in Edinburgh, she regularly publishes articles and book reviews related to her specialty for a range of publications including The Economist.

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“I think, therefore I am”: Descartes on the Foundations of Knowledge

Author: Charles Miceli Category: Historical Philosophy , Epistemology Word Count: 994

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If you are reading this, then you are probably looking at a screen or a piece of paper. Think to yourself: “I have some paper in my hand,” “I am in front of a computer” or whatever fits.

Is your belief here certain ? Is there any way that you could believe this, yet your belief be false? Is there any possibility that you are mistaken about this belief? René Descartes (1596-1650) argues you could: this belief, and almost all other beliefs, are not certain.

Descartes argues that there is one clear exception, however: “I think, therefore I am.” [1] He claims to have discovered a belief that is certain and irrefutable . Perhaps there is no saying more famous in philosophy than this phrase, often known as the “Cogito” after its Latin phrasing, cogito ergo sum . [2]

This essay explores the meaning of the Cogito, its importance to Descartes, and its legacy for philosophy up to the present day.

1. Doubt and Skepticism

The phrase “I think, therefore I am” first appears in Discourse on the Method (1637) . [3] But Descartes changes the wording to “I am, I exist” [4] in his most famous (1641) work, Meditations on First Philosophy [5] (called the Meditations for short).

In the Meditations , Descartes reflects on the fact that he has had many false beliefs, and he sets out to address that problem, with the hope of finding a way to ensure he only has true beliefs and even that scientific research yields only truths as well.

His strategy is to doubt, or not believe, any claim that is false or could be false. He recognizes that his senses might be deceiving him now, since they have deceived him before; he might also be reasoning erroneously now, since he has reasoned badly before. He thereby doubts all beliefs from his senses and from his faculty of reasoning, since those beliefs could be false.

Descartes then considers the most extreme reason for doubt: there may exist an evil demon (sometimes translated ‘genius,’ ‘genie,’ or ‘spirit’) who has the power to control all of his thoughts, tricking him into believing anything. [6] Descartes cannot prove that this demon does not exist. So he acknowledges that it’s possible that all his beliefs about the world external to his own mind are illusions caused by the demon, corresponding to nothing at all, and so all his beliefs about the external world are false.

Descartes is usually thought of as considering skepticism , the view that we lack knowledge or justified belief. [7] Here skepticism is considered because we lack certainty : what we believe might be false, so our beliefs aren’t knowledge. As we will see, Descartes argues that the Cogito enables him to defeat skepticism and show that we have knowledge, with certainty.

2. The Cogito and Certainty

After considering the evil demon, Descartes soon discovers the Cogito. He realizes that thinking “I am, I exist,” withstands the evil-demon test! Even if all the beliefs and types of beliefs that Descartes reviews are false, or could be false, at the least, he must exist to be deceived. Even if one doubts one’s own existence, one must exist at that moment, since there must be something, or someone, doing the doubting. Doubting is a way of thinking, and one’s existence is required to doubt or think in the first place: it is impossible to doubt and yet not exist.

So, the “I think” element in the Cogito implies the direct, immediate, certain knowledge of one’s own existence. Thought requires a thinker and this is known with certainty , since not even the demon could deceive someone who doesn’t exist. Descartes thereby found what he was looking for: some certain, indubitable, irrefutable knowledge. [8]

3. Defeating Skepticism

Once the Cogito is discovered, Descartes argues it can serve as a foundation for how to find other truths that are certain.

Descartes proposes that the Cogito is undeniably true because it is clear and distinct . About clarity, Descartes explains, “Some perceptions are so transparent and at the same time so simple we can never think without believing them to be true…” [9] When something is distinct , the mind has an unclouded vision of what is most essential about that object. These qualities become the standard against which all other beliefs can be evaluated.

Descartes argues that the clarity and distinctness rule, derived from the Cogito, can justify our beliefs about the external world. But what verifies the clarity-and-distinctness rule? God’s existence, Descartes argues. By reflecting on his idea of God, he argues that God exists. [10] Descartes then argues that a truthful, good God would not allow us to be deceived when we understand objects clearly and distinctly, and so God would not allow us to routinely have false beliefs.

The Cogito then serves as the foundation for a series of claims that build upon each other. According to Descartes, his reasoning establishes that, what he originally doubted, he actually knows, with certainty. [11]  He thereby defeats the skeptical concerns that he considered earlier.

4. Conclusion: Knowledge without Certainty

Descartes was impressed by the Cogito because he had found a belief that is certain and so, when believed , cannot be false. He thought that certainty was necessary for a belief to be known. While he argued that, fortunately, we can ultimately be certain of much of what we think we know, [12] most philosophers following him have denied that.

Contemporary theorists of knowledge tend to deny that knowledge requires certainty: they tend to be “falliblists,” arguing that we can know some claim, yet not be certain that it is true. [13] The problem with Descartes’ standard for knowledge is that almost no beliefs meet it. Descartes thought he could show how our ordinary knowledge claims are ultimately based on the Cogito, but most philosophers have not been convinced by his case.

The epistemic lesson of the Cogito is that if certainty is a necessary requirement for knowledge, we are left with very little knowledge indeed. The challenge, however, is that if certainty is not required for knowledge, what is? [14]

[1] For a discussion of the whole of Descartes’ Meditations , see Marc Bobro’s Descartes’ Meditations 1-3 and Descartes’ Meditations 4-6 .

[2] It should be noted that although the idea expressed in cogito ergo sum is usually attributed to and associated with Descartes, it was not an entirely new idea. For instance, over a 1000 years earlier, St. Augustine, in The City of God (Book XI, 26), wrote “ergo sum si fallor,” which is often paraphrased as fallor ergo sum : “I make mistakes, therefore I am.”

[3] Cottingham, John, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 1 . Cambridge University Press (2012) (AT VI 32: CSM I 127).

[4] It’s instructive to consider why Descartes changes the wording from the Discourse on the Method to the Meditations . Unlike in the Discourse , Descartes employs strict tests of doubt in the Meditations , where even simple inferences are put in question. In other words, in setting the stage for the Cogito, the meditator is unsure that logic is reliable, and so cannot legitimately argue from premises to a conclusion that she exists. Another way to account for the missing ergo in the Cogito of the Meditations is to point out that Descartes seeks a foundational belief upon which to provide justification for other beliefs and therefore ground knowledge, and that for a belief to be properly foundational it is in no need of justification itself.

[5] Cottingham, John, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 2. Cambridge University Press (2012) (AT VII 25: CSM II 17).

[6] The 1999 science-fiction film The Matrix is an update on this idea: one’s beliefs may be caused by the Matrix, not the physical world, and so they are false: e.g., someone “plugged into” the Matrix believing she is riding a bicycle is not actually riding a bicycle, so that belief is false.

[7] There are different kinds of skeptics. Some skeptics are “global” skeptics, who deny that we have any knowledge at all, about anything: Descartes seems close to a global skeptic, at least before he reaches the Cogito. Other types of skepticism are more limited: e.g., someone might be a skeptic about knowledge claims about the future (“Nobody really knows what will happen in the future”), or a skeptic about claims to religious knowledge, or moral knowledge, or skeptics about knowledge claims based on testimony, and more.

[8] What follows from the certainty of the Cogito is the nature of Descartes himself: he must be a thing that thinks. The Cogito does not prove that Descartes has a body or a brain, or even that other minds exist: these can all be doubted. Only thought is certain: Descartes says, “ I am, I exist , that is certain. But for how long? For as long as I think. It might perhaps even happen that if I stopped thinking, I should at once altogether stop being.” Cottingham, John, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 2. Cambridge University Press (2012) (AT VII 27: CSM II 18).

[9] Cottingham, John, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 2. Cambridge University Press (2012) (AT 7, 145-6, CMS 2, 104).

[10] Descartes argues that his idea of God is such that it could only have been caused by God: Descartes couldn’t have created that idea on his own or from any of his own experiences. Descartes also offers a distinct ontological argument for God’s existence: see The Ontological Argument for the Existence of God by Andrew Chapman

[11] Thus, Descartes is clearly a foundationalist. See e.g. Hasan, Ali, “Foundationalist Theories of Epistemic Justification,” in E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Fall 2018 edition.

[12] Something unclear is whether each individual would have to go through the thought processes that Descartes engaged in to have knowledge, or else they lack knowledge, or whether Descartes (or anyone’s, or enough people’s) engaging in these meditations would contribute to everyone’s having knowledge.

[13] See e.g. Unger, Peter. Ignorance: A Case for Scepticism (Oxford, UK and New York, NY: Oxford University Press), Chapter III.

[14] For discussion of some challenges facing theories of knowledge that deny that certainty is necessary for knowledge, see The Gettier Problem by Andrew Chapman and Epistemic Justification: What is Rational Belief? by Todd R. Long. 

St. Augustine, The City of God (412)

Cottingham, John, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 1 . Cambridge University Press (2012)

Cottingham, John, Robert Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes: Volume 2. Cambridge University Press (2012)

Hasan, Ali, “Foundationalist Theories of Epistemic Justification,” in E. N. Zalta (ed.), The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy , Fall 2018 edition.

Unger, Peter. Ignorance: A Case for Scepticism (Oxford, UK and New York, NY: Oxford University Press), Chapter III.

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Acknowledgments

The editors are grateful to Marc Bobro for his review of this essay.

About the Author

Charles Miceli teaches philosophy in New Jersey and in Asia. He received an MA from Fordham University and reads novels in his spare time. micelicharles @ yahoo.com

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Home — Essay Samples — Philosophy — Rene Descartes — “I Think, Therefore I Am”: The Philosophy of René Descartes

"I Think, Therefore I Am": The Philosophy of René Descartes

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Published: Sep 16, 2023

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Table of contents

The context of descartes' philosophy, the meaning of "i think, therefore i am", implications and philosophical legacy.

• Doubt: Descartes begins by doubting everything—his senses, the external world, and even the existence of God. He imagines an evil demon who might deceive him into believing false things.
• Existence of Thought: Despite the doubt, Descartes recognizes that he is thinking. Doubt requires thought, and thought requires a thinking subject.
• Existence of the Thinker: From the existence of thought, Descartes concludes that there must be a thinking "I" or "self" that is doing the thinking.
• Certainty of Self: Descartes finds that the existence of the thinking self is undeniable and certain. It is immune to doubt because, in the very act of doubting, he affirms his own existence as a thinking thing.

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17.3: Starting the "Who I Am" Story

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Your Who I Am story should start to answer the question “who are you?” However, this story should only focus on one characteristic or aspect of your personality. Think back to Skip and the Who I Am story from the beginning of this chapter. His story helped prove he was ready to be a leader and ready to run a corporation.

As with most other types of writing, brainstorming can be a useful tool. To begin, you might just think about all the ways to finish the sentence “I am . . .” The word you choose to finish this sentence then becomes the subject of your Who I Am story. If a subject is not jumping out at you, think about the way your mother, best friend, significant other, or pet might describe you. Think about a characteristic that only the people closest to you see—for example, has anyone ever told you “when I first met you, I never would have guessed that you were so funny (or competitive or happy)”?

Once you have a characteristic in mind, keep brainstorming and think of one specific example or event that illustrates this characteristic. This example will become your story. Again, much like a topic, sometimes an example, or story, will just jump to mind. However, if you cannot think of an example right away, look through some old pictures, scrapbooks, or yearbooks. Reread journals or listen to favorite songs. All of these things can spark memories, and one of these memories can become the example or event on which your Who I Am story will focus. This event does not have to be exciting or flamboyant. Simple but heartfelt stories often are the most effective. Many things can be faked in life, but sincerity is generally not one of them.

Writing the “Who I Am” Story

Once you have the topic, just start writing. Writing a story is not like baking a cake—there is no formula or recipe that guarantees a perfect story. But here are some steps to consider:

1. Ask some questions about the event you are going to write about. 

When did this event take place? What are the starting and ending points? Where did this event take place? Who was there? Was there a conflict? A resolution?

2. Write down everything you remember.

Of course, there are numerous ways to write a first draft, but for a Who I Am story, simply writing down everything you remember about the event is a good place to start. Usually, it is better to have more writing than what you need. So start by writing everything down in chronological order. Do not worry about any rhetorical strategies or making it sound good. Think about the concept of fabula and just write down the entire series of events or actions.

3. Go do something else.

Once you have the entire story written down, set it aside. Go take a nap or play with your dog, and come back to the story later. Then reread it and see if you left anything out. Time permitting, go through this process of putting the story aside and then rereading it several times.

4. Summarize the main point of the story in one or two sentences.

Go through the story and eliminate everything that does not relate to this main point. Do not worry about length right now. Focus on quality and creating a unified story.

5. Think about creating a dominant impression.

Is the story sad, thoughtful, sarcastic, or humorous? If you have trouble deciding on a dominant impression, think about setting the story to music. What song would you pick—Mozart’s “Moonlight Sonata,” something by the Violent Femmes, a sultry jazz tune—and what emotion does this song conjure up?

6. Keeping the main point and dominant impression in mind, add details and expand the most important parts of your story.

Real time should now become narrative time. Add concrete details and imagery. Imagine the different senses to which the story could appeal. We are a very visual culture, but go beyond describing what things look like—consider incorporating smells or sounds. Think about the way something feels when touched. Also think about how these details can help draw a reader in. Consider this an example from a student’s Who I Am story:

At the beginning of every school year, I am obligated to introduce myself to a new sea of adolescent hormones swimming with impulsiveness, curiosity, and unfiltered tourette-like verbal ejaculations. Sure, I could stand before the little urchins, and with trident in hand, I could dictate the rules of my class and cast off a long list of life experiences that made me the immortal that stands before them or I could let them place their expectations upon me creating an environment of perceived equality. Being a believer in a democratic classroom, I always opt for the latter.

Look at the way this student builds on the details: the words “sea,” “swimming” and “trident” work beautifully together. And look at the choices the student made: using the words “adolescent hormones” and “urchins” instead of students; “unfiltered tourette-like verbal ejaculations” could have simply been opinions or obnoxious comments. The story includes a lot of visual elements, but the phrase “verbal ejaculations” also appeals to the ears. These words, phrases, and ideas all work together to, as clich.d as it sounds, paint a picture of the author of this story.

The author of this story is a student, but she is also a middle-school teacher. The main point of the story is to show who she is as a teacher. Everything in this paragraph relates to that main point. We do not know the color of her hair, whether she is wearing a shirt or a sweater, or if she is tall or short. After all, none of these things relate to the point of this story. Great detail and description and emotions are very important to the Who I Am story. But they need to be the right details, descriptions, and emotions, and they need to be used at the right time.

8. Make certain the story shows and does not tell.

The ultimate success of the Who I Am story depends on how well you show, not tell, who you are (i.e. use more indirect characterization than direct characterization). Have faith in your words and in the story you are telling. Trust that the story works and do not end the story with a statement like “clearly this event shows that I am a trustworthy person.” Let the story do its job. Consider two more paragraphs from our middle-school teacher’s story:

On the first day of class last year, I allowed students to take seats at their leisure. I sat on my desk and when everyone was settled, I quietly commanded their attention by placing a large black top hat upon my head. Conversations abruptly stopped as my curious audience took notice. ‘If I were to say that hats are a metaphor for the different roles we play in our lives, what do you think that means?’ I was met with blank stares. ‘What if I said that I play many roles every day? I am a teacher, a mother, a daughter, a coworker, and a friend. Are the expectations for those different roles the same or different?’ A hand raises and a girl with pale skin, lively eyes and thick auburn hair answers, 'Of course they’re different. I don’t act the same around my friends as I do in front of my parents!’ She has a smug ‘as if’ expression.

‘You’re absolutely right,’ I acknowledge. ‘Now what if I were to ask you to define the expectations of my role as your teacher?’ Eyebrows rise as the class considers this. ‘I’m going to pass out sticky notes and I want each of you to write down a word or phrase that describes what my job is as your teacher. When you are done, I want you to place your note on the strip of blue paper that runs up the wall in the back of the room. Each of you should place your note above the note of the person that went before you so that we create a column of sticky notes. Does everyone understand?’ A thin-faced, black boy with large eyes and bright teeth pipes up, “So we get to tell you how to do your job?’ I thoughtfully pause before answering, ‘Well . . . yah!’

What do we learn about the author from reading this passage? What kind of teacher is she? We could describe her as creative, brave, caring, and dedicated. We could decide that she is not afraid to take some risks. We know that she loves her job. Does she directly state any of these things? No. But her story shows that she is all of these things.

9. Look at the introduction of your story.

Will it grab a reader’s attention? Think about sitting in a doctor’s office or waiting for your car to be repaired. You pick up a magazine and start to thumb through it. How long do you give an article to grab your attention before turning the page? Some people flip to the next page if the title of the article does not interest them; other more generous readers will read the first sentence or two before deciding to continue reading or to move on to the next page. Something in the opening paragraph, hopefully in the first sentence or two, should grab the reader and make him or her want to read on. Here is an example from another student’s Who I Am story:

I thought by the time I was thirty I would know what I wanted to be when I grew up. But here I am on the eve of my thirty-first birthday, and I am still searching, searching for where I fit into the world, amidst all the titles I have been given such as Sydney’s Mom, Tripp’s Wife, and Janice’s Daughter. Then there are all the roles I play: maid, chef, bookkeeper, personal shopper, and teacher. Of course that’s just what I do and who I do it for. The real question remains, when you take all of that away, who am I?

This is the first paragraph of the student’s Who I Am essay, and it does several things nicely. The conversational tone draws us in. We almost feel as if we are getting to peek inside the author’s head. “Tripp’s Wife,” “Janice’s Daughter,” “chef,” “personal shopper” are lovely specifics, and equally important, these are specifics to which most peoplecan relate. Perhaps we are Bob’s son or Suzie’s boyfriend instead of a daughter or a wife, but we can still see the similarities between the author’s life and our own. And because of that, we want to know how she answers the question “who am I?”

10. Treat this story like any other paper.

Have a solid organizational scheme (chronological often works well), keep one main idea per paragraph, use transitional phrasing, vary the sentence structure, and make sure the ideas flow into each other. Reflect on word choice and  particularly verb choices. Just think, for example, of all the different synonyms for the word walk. A character could strut, saunter, stroll, sashay, or skip. She could mosey, meander, or march. Powerful verbs are a great way to add panache and detail to a story without making it wordy or slowing the pace.

11. Proofread, edit, and proofread again.

Give the story to a friend and ask them to read it. Do not tell them what the paper is about or what you are trying to accomplish. Instead just ask them what they learned or what three words they would use to describe your story.

12. And the last bit of advice—have fun.

The best storytellers enjoy telling stories. When you are telling a story, pick a story that matters to you and a story that you really want to share. Let your love for that story come through, and let others see you through your story.

Home / Essay Samples / Life / About Myself / The Revolutionary Idea of “I Think Therefore I Am”: Descartes’ Legacy

The Revolutionary Idea of "I Think Therefore I Am": Descartes' Legacy

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