"Je pense donc je suis."
"Cogito ergo sum"
"I think therefore I am."
- Rene Descartes.
Descartes originally wrote that statement in
Discourse on Method. From what I understand, he doubted all knowledge he had previously acquired (due to a new scientific revolution based on the heliocentric theory.) but he realized that there had to be a doubter, and "I think therefore I am." Or, "I doubt, therefore I think, therefore I am."
However, how do I know that I did not make up this story? How do I know that I am actually sitting in a chair, typing these words. How do I know that anything else exists?All I know is that I think. I assume that this world I see is real.
I assume that because that is what I think. But this doesn't make it real. Not by "scientific standards." It only makes it real to me. If I am hallucinating, my hallucinations are real to me, but they are in fact, not real. (Assuming the ultimate assumption.)
Everyday, we assume the ultimate assumption. But is that assumption true? I do not know of a way to prove that you are real. That my body, or even my brain is real. I can't prove that anything is real. All I know is that I think, and therefore I am.
What am I? I don't know.
Why do I think of this world; why do I think of this realm of existence? Oh can I be interacting at school here, while a bomb goes of somewhere else? How can I be in this realm of existence, in the first person, while everyone and everything is off doing something unknown to me; yet, known.
How powerful am I? Am I powerful enough to create this world, and live it in the first person?
Why do I assume the ultimate assumption? Because I think, and I am, and I think I am. Does this mean that this world is me? That my thoughts are me, and that I am everyone and everything; yet, nothing at the same time, just a thinking machine...
