Does anyone actually believe the statement "I think therefore I am?"?

Question

It doesnt make sense to me. A rock can't think and yet it is. Am I missing something?

Answer 1

it means, in order to have self-awareness, one must have the capacity to be aware
otherwise, we would not have any way to know that we even exist

Answer 2

Yes, you are missing something. The quote you are referring to comes from the French philosopher Rene Descartes. It was one of the most brilliant insights a person has ever had. The point is that Descartes was trying to figure out if he knew anything for sure. After all the entire world could just be a delusion, that an all powerful entity was playing on a person's mind. Descarte's insight was that the entity would have to have something to fool. If the entity fools your mind - THAT PROVES YOUR MIND WOULD HAVE TO EXIST ! Therefore if you think ( even if your thoughts are fooled into believing something that is untrue ) you are. You don't know that the rock actually exists, but because you believe it does - it proves YOUR existence.

Answer 3

Descartes said allot of things...

First of all he was trying to prove that we exist by saying his famous line, "I think therefore I am." My thinking does not prove that I am, it merely proves that there is thinking at all. I could be merely a thought without form, or body. I don't believe that is the case obviously, but that is all my thinking can provide me a basis to believe.

Just to rag on Descartes a little. He believed that our souls communicated to our bodies through the pineal gland which then caused action in our bodies via a series of tensioned wires.

PS. Descartes was not a Solopsist. ie. He did not believe that if he thought a rock was not than it would not be.

Answer 4

Regarding your statement that the rock can't think yet it is, you are correct. But it is a "lower form of life" compared to man.
There are degrees of existence in the physical world. The mineral kingdom is alive - movement of it's atoms- the vegetable kingdom is alive - power of growth- the animal kingdom is alive - it has the ability to move and is endowed with senses, seeing, hearing, smell, etc..
However man has all the above characteristics and he is also aware of his own existence. He is conscious that he has a conscience. That makes him a "higher form of life" than the rest of the existing forms of life. Not in a sense of superiority since he "needs" all of the other lower kingdoms to survive, but in the sense that he is more refined. He has the power to discover the hidden laws of nature and use them for his benefit and progress. Sciences, discoveries etc..

Answer 5

I think you are missing something.

1) "I think therefore I am" (Descartes) is not the same as
2) "I am therefore I think" (the Stone).

For 2) to be wrong all we have to do is find something that exists that doesn't think: which you have shown as the stone.

For 1) to be wrong you would have to find something that thinks, but doesn't exist.

That's a bit tricky. In fact its completely impossible - which is why Descartes used it. He was searching for something we could be certain is true. He was certain of his own existence as he could not without contradiction think he did not exist.

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Thinking about it a bit more - its not that you are missing something, more that you're adding stuff in that isn't there. Descartes is not saying I think therefore I am only if I think.

Answer 6

If you think you are, then you are. If you think that the rock is not, then it is not. If you couldn't think, many things that you think exist will disappear. Including yourself. But you don't have to think in order to be. That is the true nature of existence. But the world right now revolves around us. You go to the movies. Then there comes an alien, who's blind. If everyone was blind, the movie theater wouldn't exist. In fact, nothing that we have created would exist, if the human was blind. So a lot if things exist only because you see them. But Buddha doesn't think and yet he is. We don't see him and yet he is. Buddha will exist even if nothing else existed. That's what it means to be God.

Answer 7

It is a profound statement and only great philosophical minds can grasp the depth of thinking involved here!!

But to a layman such as myself, the solace is that even wise philosophers accept that I exist.......... if I were not, well I can't imagine my plight!!!!

Answer 8

The ‘think’ in that statement actually means ‘self awareness’ which gives birth to the idea of ‘separation’. In other words, if I think and become aware of myself as a separate entity from others, then I ‘exist’ within a merger reality of perceiving myself and perceiving the other. Therefore, I ‘think’ therefore I am. As for the rock; it exists, not because it ‘thinks or doesn’t think’ but because it is PERCEIVED. In other words, to BE is to be PERCEIVED.

Answer 9

"Life is not an eternal search for God: Life is an Eternal Expression of God."
What do you think of this statement? Moreover, the level of evolution that we have achieved so far only shows us how far we can truly reach. Existence is God experiencing God’s self through us and all of life. We are individual, unique, divine, aspects of the whole seeing itself through our different perspectives. This is the essence of life, to experience all things in all ways and to expand to undreamed of levels of awareness and creativity. So my main question is this. Should we not unleash ourselves from our own self-contained ideology and rhetoric and understand the unlimited nature of the universe which is God? This is Life! This is ever evolving evolution!

Answer 10

Yes you are. . . .the statement "I think therefore I am" means that whatever you think about yourself is what you are. Have you ever heard someone say something about themselves like "I am so smart" or " I am such a *****". If that is what a person thinks about themselves then that is what they are.

Answer 11

It goes back to the power of the word(s). Proverbs states that words can give life or bring death. If someone called you stupid all your life (starting from when you were just a small toddler), by the time that person died - they wouldn't have to call you stupid anymore...you'd be doing it yourself.

If you think you are a good person, there's a good chance you will do "good" things and believe your are a good person.