I Think, Therefore I am
Joseph Pallattil
The philosophical journey with the world famous philosophers has been covered the phases of medieval era as well as scholastic era. Now we are entering into the modern age. Here we come to modern philosophy developed in the modern era and associated with modernity. What are the characteristics of the modern philosophy? In general, we can say, the awakening of the reflective spirit, a spirit of criticism, a spirit of revolt against tradition and authority, a plea for freedom of reason, a shift of orientation, a predominance of the scientific spirit.
Let us meet the famous figure in the philosophical world of the modern era. That is none other than Rene Descartes. He was the first major figure in the philosophical movement known as rationalism, a method of understanding the world based on the use of reason as the means to attain knowledge. Rene Descartes is generally considered as the father of modern philosophy, because he turned the focus of philosophical investigation from the world of objects, the world around us, to the thinking subject.
Rene Descartes is most commonly known for his philosophical statement, “I think, therefore I am”, in Latin we can say, “Cogito, ergo sum”. “I think; therefore I am” was the end of the search Descartes conducted for a statement that could not be doubted. He derived this certain statement by using the method, ‘Method of Doubt’. This method of doubt was largely popularized in Western philosophy by Descartes, who sought to doubt the truth of all beliefs in order to determine which he could be certain were true. It is the basis for Descartes’ statement, “Cogito ergo sum” (I think, therefore I am).
In order to determine whether there is anything we can know with certainty, Descartes says that we first have to doubt everything we know. Finally he reached at accepting the reality of himself as a thinking subject. When he doubts, that means he thinks. The reality of the process of thinking leads him to accept the existence of himself as thinking person. ‘I think, therefore I am’. Descartes cannot doubt that he exist. He exist because he can think, which establish his existence. If there is a thought than there must be a thinker. He found that he could not doubt that he himself existed, as he was the one doing the doubting in the first place. He thinks therefore he exists.
