Eli5: What does ‘I think therefore I am’ mean and why is it a big deal?
In: Culture
Back in the olden days, there were lots of things people thought were true but hadn’t properly thought about. Then this guy, Des, decided to try to work out what was true and what wasn’t. He started by looking at science, and realised he couldn’t prove any of it. Then he looked at what he could see, and realised his brain might be being tricked by magic. In the end, he decided the only thing he knew for sure was that he was thinking about this stuff, and if he was thinking then he must exist!
From then on, he started to get people to think differently. Everyone started to try to work out what was real, and what wasn’t. In the end, many things people thought were true were nonsense, and many things people didn’t know before were discovered!
I hope I have explained that in a way a 5 year old might understand. For explanations for higher age groups, please see other comments, including that from xPanZi.
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