Cogito ergo sum…
… is a quotation from French philosopher Descartes attempting to prove that he existed. Usually translated as ‘I think, therefore I am’.
When asked the question, “How do you know you exist?” many people struggle to answer the question. Some who have had some exposure to philosophy will quote the above line without really understanding the reasoning behind it and without understanding how or whether it does or does not prove your existence.
One night, I asked Chris the following question while staring at her collection of teddy bears: “those bears, they don’t think. So do they exist?” A very interesting discussion ensued, which kept us up way past our bedtime.
How would you answer that question?
June 29th, 2005 at 1:41 pm
A -> B necessitates notB -> notA but not notA -> notB
June 29th, 2005 at 2:53 pm
Does a thing not necessarily exist if it doesn’t have a mind?
June 29th, 2005 at 7:55 pm
It depends on the definition of existence. Is it subjective, objective, relative, inter-subjective, inter-objective, or inter-relative?
June 30th, 2005 at 1:07 am
If the collection of bears didn’t exist, are these comments a case of “much ado about nothing”?
June 30th, 2005 at 9:36 am
A circular argument would be wrought if one indeed tried to answer that question.
However, as for myself, no discourse is deemed futile if but for the end of mind exercise, ergo there is no such thing as “much ado about nothing” if that nothing were something to begin with.
June 30th, 2005 at 9:49 am
Alway -
P.S.
Very well put on your blog entry entitled “How About the Miracles of Jesus?” I couldn’t agree more.
July 1st, 2005 at 1:12 am
I’m all for mind exercise. “A mind is a terrible thing to waste.”
I didn’t realize you knew about my ‘blog’ (I stopped writing day to day stuff and converted it to a repository of Bible-related, at times ‘controversial’, personal studies where I can access anywhere with an Internet connection).
If you “couldn’t agree more”, I hope you realize the implications of your agreeing with me. I guess more on this offline.
Btw, we’re planning a road trip to Toronto sometime in the middle of August. I’m bringing the whole gang. We’d love to pay a visit.