Eli5: What does ‘I think therefore I am’ mean and why is it a big deal?
In: Culture
Many people here are getting this wrong. Descartes reasoned (due to the many philosophical upheavals at the time) that many of our fundamental beliefs are in question, and desired to start from scratch to see what he could absolutely determine as true.
He decided start by doubting everything, even his own existence. But he reasoned that doubting is an act of thought, and that something that doesn’t exist cannot think. Thus the reasoning: “I doubt therefore I think, I think therefore I am”.
The problem is that this argument only demonstrates ones own existence. I can use it to demonstrate to myself that I exist, but I cannot use it to demonstrate to you that I exist (and visa versa). This is known as the problem of “Hard Solipsism”, and can essentially be summed up as the idea that you can’t actually prove you aren’t in a simulation (like the matrix), as all external stimuli (everything your five senses tell you) could potentially be false data fed to you by the simulation.
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