Explain fully “Cognito ergo sum” argument.?

Answer 1

"I think, therefore I am." It means my ability to think proves (to me, the thinker) that I exist. Look up solipsism. The argument is that nothing can be known for certain to actually exist, but a person can be sure he/she exists based on the fact that they think. Everything else could possibly be an illusion (like the Matrix, for example).

Answer 2

This famous Cartesian phrase originates from Descartes' "Meditations on First Philosophy". If you are interested in comprehending its meaning better you should read first his Discourse on Method of Right Reasoning, the two are similar in content but different in approach.

The phrase was a conclusion reached by Descartes in his inquiry into what he can know with certainty. He was beset by the problem of philosophy attempting to determine what we can know through our reason but that ideas often lead astray, thus offsetting the direction of knowing something with certainty. It should be noted that although Descartes used doubt as a method it did not mean he doubted everything. Doubt was used as a tool through which he attempted to evaluate what he could be certain of without any further need for evaluation - what is known in philosophy as the self-evident.

Hence, in the Meditations, Descartes arrives to consider how the senses fail him, that the mind has difficulty distinguishing between what we perceive mentally and know in reality (hence the dream problem). In brief, during his meditative procedure he discovers that while he doubts, he realizes that in order to doubt he must be able to know he doubts, and that even though he can doubt all other things he cannot doubt the fact that HE himself is doing the doubting. In conclusion he states that because he thinks, and knows that he thinks and doubts (an action of thinking), then he must be something in order to do so, that is, he must exist.

From there he argues how he exits and then the problem gets into the existence of God, since Descartes has only shown that he alone exists and, therefore, it is implied that he would be the cause of his own existence. We'll leave it here, but I hope I answered your question regarding the 'cogito'.

Answer 3

1. Descartes confirmed: “ I think, therefore I am “
2.Buddhist say "I think not, therefore I am"
=======================
1.Consciousness is real but nonphyslcal.
2.Consciousness is connected to physical reality .
====================
Our computer-brain works on a dualistic basis.
In a usual daily life all we do is done logically,
under an influence of our feelings.
We don,t make any discovers.
On the other hand, in a religious practice
we learn to perceive and to operate:
1) Without the participation of the sense organs.
2) Without the participation of the logic mental processes.
When these conditions will be created, then
we will acquire new forces, new abilities.
We make new discovers.
=========================
http://www.socratus.com

Answer 4

It's one of the oldest in the book. Descartes is generally credited with it.

We are basically puppets of our own mental projections, is how I think of it. When I believed Life sucked, it did. Now that I believe Life is good and full of wonderment, it is.

More to the point, self awareness is what makes the self. Without our consciousness, we don't exist. It's like multiplying by 0. The higher developed our consciousness, the bigger our multiplier and the more understanding of- and fulfilled by- Life we become, to advance the phrase a little more.

I don't know if I'm making things better here. Feel free to email me, and we can discuss it at length.

Answer 5

"cogito ergo sum"= I think therfore I am.

Rene Descartes was obsessed with making sure that he was sure. He doubted EVERYTHING during his Meditations. In the end the only thing he could not doubt was that he was a thinking thing. He eveloped the concept of the "evil genious" that was messing with him.

After doubing knowlege and everything else, he could not deny that he was a thinking thing.

Answer 6

i think i am f-u-cking dying that it is hilarious that two deep thinkers thought of the same f-u-cking question one right after the other.

i think that i am laughing my AS$ off on how philosophers think that they are constantly breaking new profound thoughts. what are they really doing...constantly proving to myself and others that 'philosophers' have got to put their paper hats away, wash the french fry grease off their hands and get a real job and stop living in their parents basement or at least pay the water bill.

Answer 7

you can deny everything other than the fact that you are a thinking being.

solipsism is a very rejected theory and there are MANY theories that prove that its so "out there" and have many theories proving against it. look up solipsism in wikipedia and it will show theories that prove it false