Did Socrates say: I think therefore I am, or was it really Descartes as some people now claim?

Question

A proffessor in South Africa has recently claimed on national TV that Socrates actually made this statement and not Rene DesCartes as is generally accepted.

Answer 1

Without question Descartes said it in his "Discourse on Method," a very difficult philosophical book to read. His view was that you can doubt everything except the fact that you think. The connection with Socrates may be that one of of his central goals for human beings was "Know thyself" but the emphasis in Socratic philosophy is quite different from Catesianism, which leads into modern rationalism: Socrates was a Transendentalist (you have to go beyond seeming reality into the Real).

Answer 2

I always thought it was Descartes who said "je pense, donc je suis" in his native french tongue, which in Latin translates into "cogito, ergo sum. There are also some who accredit (if not the actual phrase, then the idea), to St Augustine of Hippo. I have never heard it accredited to Socrates, but then again .. who knows ?

Answer 3

Whatever you want to be you can be

Answer 4

YOU SPELLED PROFESSOR WRONG