I think, therefore...

Think Tank #2

About two years ago I became obsessed with an idea. I’m not exactly sure why I became enamored with this idea, but it stems from a rather famous quote, so I assume others have felt the same way. The quote comes from the 17th-century philosopher Rene Descartes, and you’ve probably heard it.

“cogito, ergo sum.”
“I think, therefore I am.”

When this quote first grabbed my attention, I didn’t understand it. I thought it was some kind of testament to the grand importance of thinking, that Descartes was saying that to exist was to think, that a thoughtless life is not really a life at all. While this assertion is not necessarily untrue, it’s not what “cogito, ergo sum” is about at all.

In fact, the quote has a rather interesting history. The distilled, thirty-second version goes like this: Descartes became struck with the idea that everything he knew to be true might actually be false. He realized that all his sources of information—his friends and family, authority (people who he thought of as experts on a subject), even his own senses—might not actually be trustworthy at all. He then decided to examine his ideas one by one, relying on logic alone. After stripping away everything he thought was true but couldn’t prove, he was left with one fact: I think, therefore I am. The first thing he could intuit for certain was that he existed, because if he didn’t, he wouldn’t be embarking on the discourse in his head.

The original Latin version of this quote might be more accurate than the English translation. There’s no pronouns in it—no I that’s doing the thinking. The logic is not ‘I, as a person, am thinking, therefore I, as an individual, exist.’ It’s less specific than that: ‘thoughts exist, therefore something exists.’

Was Descartes even right? I’m not sure. I haven’t really sat down and thought about his conclusion (at least, not with the appropriate level of Cartesian intensity).

Nevertheless, I like the quote. I like what it stands for—questioning everything and trusting nothing, not even your senses. It’s the idea that inspired Thinking Man. My first essay was about this idea—if you scroll all the way back, you can find it.

Paradoxically, in the last two years, the idea of questioning everything has started to seem obvious—too obvious to even warrant any thought. However, even the most seasoned skeptics aren’t above a reminder to reexamine their beliefs.

What beliefs have crept into my consciousness that I didn’t consciously choose?
What beliefs are you holding onto?