Eli5: What does ‘I think therefore I am’ mean and why is it a big deal?
In: Culture
The philosopher Descartes wanted to find a fact that was always 100% true no matter what situation. (This is called an objective truth)
Since the brain constantly misinterprets sensory information (eg optical illusions), Descartes concluded that nothing a person senses can be objectively true, everything could possibly be a hallucination and not real at all.
The one objective truth he found was that no matter what his conscious definitely exists, because if it didn’t then obviously Descartes couldn’t be thinking anything at all.
Hence the phrase “I think, therefore I am.” – Even though you can’t be certain anything physically exists, you know your conscious exists in one form or another because you’re able to make thoughts in the first place.
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