The question of our existence in reality is a question which philosophers have
tackled throughout time. This essay will look at the phrase, cogito ergo sum or
I think therefore I am, a phrase brought about by Rene Descartes. This phrase is
the backbone of Descartes whole philosophy of our existence in reality. As long
as we are thinking things, we exist. When we look at this approach to our
existence we must first deny that any sensory data that we receive is believable
or it is conceivable that it is false. This means that we can’t really know
that anything we perceive through our senses is actually an accurate
interpretation of reality. After we’ve established that our senses aren’t
totally reliable we then have to look at what we know of without our senses.
Descartes says that the only thing that we can be sure of is that we are
thinking things. Even in denying that we are thinking things we are affirming
the actual point that we look to deny. The thought that we are not thinking
things is still a thought and therefore proof that we are thinking things. For
it is not conceivable for one to think of a point at which we are not thinking.
We can try to persuade ourselves that there are times when we are not thinking
but in doing so we see that we do exist. For it is impossible to persuade
nothing of something, so our existence is solely dependent on the fact that we
are things, thinking things that can be persuaded. Even though the fact that we
are thinking things doesn’t necessarily prove that we are human beings, it
does prove that we are beings. At this point Descartes would say that we don’t
know what we are just that we are. A thinking thing really has a very vague
description and cannot really be applied to us as beings which we perceive. So
what is the connection between what we believe to be us and what is us?
Descartes would say we have experiences of what we think we are. For example,
even though our senses aren’t reliable, when we see things we still have the
experience of seeing that thing. Even if in a dream, an apple is still
experienced as our definition of an apple. An apple in a dream will still look
and smell the same as an apple to us in wakefulness because the experience is
the same. Because we really don’t definitely know if we are awake or asleep at
any time we can only say that the experience of the apple is certain in our
minds. So we are thinking things which are constantly having experiences of what
we think is reality or the world without. These experiences are what define the
outside world, if in fact there is an outside world to us. Descartes says that
all of these things aren’t learnt but that we know them a priori or without
experience. Descartes gives the example of a ball of wax. When this ball of wax
is heated it becomes soft and changes shape. When it is heated more it becomes a
liquid and some may even evaporate but we know as it is in us to know that it is
the same piece of wax that it was to start with. Even though the description of
this wax has changed we still know as an a priori truth that this is still the
same piece of wax that it always was. Even though our senses tell us that this
looks, smells, sounds, and feels like something different then the original
piece of wax, we know that it is the same thing. Our sensory data has changed
but our interpretation remains the same, this Descartes would say is another
sense, a deeper sense, a sense separate from the senses. There must be something
that tells us more then our sensory knowledge. Thus extra sense allows us to
relate back to the original point of existence without the use of the senses.
This extra sense is perception in the mind not necessarily through the senses
and though not entirely separate from them. There is a point where we know what
we know even though some senses are deceiving. Because we think and the mind
perceives there must be something that exists. Objections to the cogito
philosophy aren’t overly plentiful in that it is hard to think of a time when
we are not thinking, and because we are constantly thinking we can then say that
we do exist. If we can think of a time when we are not thinking then an
objection arises. For example while one is in deep sleep we do not know whether
we are thinking or not. When we wake up we may remember a dream or two but when
we think about it they may only add up to about five minutes in length even
though we know we were asleep for eight hours. There is all of that time when we
don’t remember what we were thinking or if we were even thinking at all. When
using this as an objection to the cogito we say that it is impossible to not be
thinking because to stop thinking is to no longer exist. Descartes would say
that even though we may not remember that we were thinking, we were thinking
none the less. There are many things which we don’t remember. I don’t
remember being born but that does not mean that I wasn’t thinking at the time.
During the night we might be woken up by a loud sound, but after we wake up we
might not remember a thing. It still remains that even though we can’t
remember any thought before we woke, we know that there was because we heard the
noise and woke up. We still have experiences while asleep whether they are
dreams or experience of hot or cold or a smell or a sound. We know we still
experience them because they arouse us to wakefulness and therefore are
experience while in deep sleep. The introduction of stimuli in deep sleep
arouses thoughts in us in order to wake us. Therefore, while in deep sleep we
might not remember everything we thought but we are still thinking or else we
would probably never wake up. Think about how you wake up at any time and it is
obvious that some thought is involved.