I think there for I am?

Question

Rocks dont think so how the hell could i have stubbed my toe on that big one last week, this chair I'm sitting in doesnt think for some reason im still sitting in it, trees are alive they dont think there life force however still exists. I was lying down in my bed just today listning to the radio fully awake not thinking about anything, i dindt even realize until later what had happened? did I not exist because I wasn't thinking?

Answer 1

Although many people like to quote Descartes as saying, "I think, therefore I am" (or Latin for the same, "cogito ergo sum", or French for the same, "je pense, donc je suis") he never actually said this.

Even Descartes noticed his writings being mis-quoted in his lifetime and ended up trying to stress what he DOES say: "I am, I exist".

THAT is his point - even if his thoughts are forced on him by some outside entity, he is that thing upon which thoughts are forced. The same goes for that rock you mention... whether or not it is made of silicon oxide or is just some trick of your mind, it is that thing upon which you experienced the impression of a stubbed toe. It is the source of an sensation. Perhaps nothing else. But it exists at least as that.

Some of the more abstruse philosophers would also dispute your knowledge about what things think and what do not. How do you KNOW that rocks don't think? Do you have some kind of geological telepathy?

Sure, rocks and trees (and for that matter some people) don't SEEM to have the necessary make-up to do any thinking but senses can be so easily fooled and scientific theories come and go. Nobody can really say what causes consciousness and what does not, so how can we be so certain that one thing is aware and another isn't?

Answer 2

You have to realize that this isn't a formula for existence. Descartes, came to this conclusion because he realized that in questioning his own or anything else's existence (which is what you are doing) means that he exists. If one does not exist, than one cannot think, especially think about themselves. He was building an epistemological structure, with his own existence at the base.

Answer 3

This is great. You should be applauded for asking this question.

One of the things philosophy thrives on is definition. This quote was intended to define what it means to exist. The original was something like Cogito ergo sum in Latin.
But we have come a long way in the wonderful world of definitions since the Renaissance.

Nowadays people might ask, what do you mean by thinking?
If a baby doesn't think, does it therefore not exist and it would be no crime to chuck it in some garbage can?

How about mentally challenged people?

And, what do you mean by exist? Computers could be said to think but do they exist. I like your thing about trees especially. Keep asking questions--at least of yourself.

Answer 4

Interesting way of looking at this statement. (Kudos to your existance! lol!) I've always considered it in the sense that what I think becomes my reality. "I think xyz, therefore, I am xyz". I'm sure this is how most people interpret the statement. Getting back to your interpretation. Maybe the trees and the rock and chair exist because YOU believe them to exist, not because they believe them to exist. ????????

Answer 5

D. W. Gallmann said, "You are self aware (interacting with your surroundings) and therefore you have free will to choose between what is right and wrong with perception being reality."

Your question... answers your question. Think about it. LOL

Answer 6

your brain NEVER stops working unless you're dead. so you didn't;t STOP thinking. you just were not aware of what you were thinking, not paying attention.
How do you know a tree doesn't think?Just because "they" say tree's don't think. unless you have ever been a tree you have no way of knowing that... is an occasional table always an occasional table or is it occasionally a chair.

Answer 7

The rock and the chair and the trees don't have an "I". Your premises are false.

Answer 8

Thinking proves you exist but not thinking does not mean something doesn't exist. Duh.