This document discusses and analyzes René Descartes' famous philosophical statement "Cogito ergo sum" ("I think, therefore I am"). [1] It explains that Descartes came up with this statement in 1637 as part of his philosophical treatise "Discourse on Method" to establish the existence of the self through consciousness and thinking. [2] The document considers different perspectives on this statement, including those who question whether our existence is real or not, and discusses Pierre Gassendi's disagreement with Descartes' reasoning. [3] In conclusion, the author agrees with Descartes' view that if we can think and doubt, then we must truly exist.

1. Katey Snihur December 2nd, 2010
Humanities 20-1
COGITO ERGO SUM
"FOR, AFTER ALL, HOW DO WE KNOW THAT TWO AND TWO MAKE FOUR? OR
THAT THE FORCE OF GRAVITY WORKS? OR THAT THE PAST IS
UNCHANGEABLE? IF BOTH THE PAST AND THE EXTERNAL WORLD EXIST ONLY
IN THE MIND, AND IF THE MIND ITSELF IS CONTROLLABLE – WHAT THEN?"
~GEORGE ORWELL~
The phrase “Cogito ergo sum” means, quite simply, I think, therefore
I am. It is a Latin phrase that was translated from the French version, Je
pense donc je suis. This famous and intuitive idiom developed by René
Descartes, a French philosopher, mathematician, physicist, and writer.
Descartes came up with this in 1637, as part/ of his “Discourse on Method”,
(The full title is “Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One’s
Reason and of Seeking in the Sciences”) which is a philosophical and
autobiographical treatise.
I know that I exist because I have the ability to question whether or
not that I do, that is the basis of this topic. I believe that, that is true. Though
it is only a theory and cannot be proven, I would like to believe that I am not
someone’s “Sim” or “Avatar” and that I actually have control of what I am
doing. To think otherwise is very scary. For me it is anyways.
The questions that can be equated with this Cogito ergo sum and its
meaning are endless. Some people develop questions of technology. Others
associate this phrase with religion and a parallel cosmos. They question
whether or not our existence is real, or fake.
Many philosophers spend much of their lives pondering over this
simple concept some even reject it. One of these philosophers was Pierre
Gassendi. He disagreed with the clarity of the criterion and did his best to
undermine the reasoning that Descartes used to come up with the cogito.
Using his own sense of logic and knowledge, Gassendi attacked the
ontological argument.
I, however, do not agree with Gassendi. I think that any computer
programmer that was creating artificial life and didn’t want that life to know
that it was unreal, would make it impossible for us to doubt that we are. We
can assume that if we were fake than we were meant not to know that we
were due to the fact that we do not know. Taking this into consideration, we
can then determine that we are not artificial because we can, and do doubt
our existence as being real or make believe.

2. Katey Snihur December 2nd, 2010
Humanities 20-1
The preceding explanation is one of the many perspectives Descartes
looked at when coming up with his philosophical phrase. I think that he is
right, if we can think, and doubt, then we must be real. We must be
ourselves, and in the end, that’s all that matters.
"THE SEARCHING-OUT AND THOROUGH INVESTIGATION OF TRUTH OUGHT TO BE THE
PRIMARY STUDY OF MAN."
~CICERO~