Name: Total Philosophy: Why René Descartes said 'I think, therefore I am'
Uploaded: 2014-07-25T06:21:14.000Z
Duration: 5 min 28 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

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In this video we are going to be talking about René Descartes

Descartes was a 17 century French philosopher

Who is considered to be the father of modern philosophy

But why did Descartes say this in the first place?

Does this saying have some deeper meaning?

Was he the first frenchmen to realise that he was thinking?

First have to take a look at something called Global Scepticism

Global Scepticism is the idea that all beliefs can be doubted

this even includes beliefs which to many of us would seem odd to doubt

A global sceptic is certainly not someone you would want to eat lunch with

Descartes disagrees with global scepticism and sets out to prove that

We can be certain about what we consider to be true

To start Descartes wonders what would actually give him reason to doubt

He concludes that it would take an all powerful evil demon

Into thinking that all of his beliefs are true when really they are not

Given the almighty power of the demon he even deceives Descartes

Of beliefs that are considered to more secure

In order to show that we can be certain about our beliefs

Descartes states that he must prove that without a doubt the demon

Descartes begins this by moving all beliefs that he has

Off the table of certainty and into the bin

Because they are created by this evil demon

In other words he denies his entire existence

And the existence of everything else in order to start afresh

But this time only adding beliefs to the table

Descartes concludes that he can only be certain of one belief

This is because nothing not even an all powerful evil demon

Since to doubt that you are thinking would be thinking in itself

That because it is true that I am thinking

After all my thoughts must come from somewhere Descartes would say

Therefore at this moment we can be certain of only two beliefs

Hence the famous quote I think therefore I am

He could further add to the table of certainty

Descartes finally figures that the belief

The mind can exist separately from the body

That his conscious collection of thoughts and feelings

Can be considered a separate entity to his body

Given that he can conceive that he is thinking

And that he exists before he has proved that he even owns a body

Basically Descartes is saying that the mind

Which is completely different to the body

Therefore meaning they can exist without each other

And has not yet shown that his perceptual beliefs are without doubt.

Can not even be sure that there exists any physical objects

Or that anything other than himself exists at all

It could be the case that Descartes is just a collection of thoughts

And that the demon is just deceiving him into thinking

That the whole world around him that he senses is real

A modern example of this could be related to the Matrix

And that your not just plugged into a supercomputer

By making you think that the world it has created is real?

Don't worry because Descartes has the red pill to this problem

This is because while trying to build upon the beliefs

Descartes finds the concept of a Perfect being AKA God

God being a perfect being has perfection in all of his qualities

By questioning whether this concept of a God

He is questioning whether such a being actually exists

Descartes notes that he himself is not a perfect being

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Total Philosophy: Why René Descartes said 'I think, therefore I am'

know

physical

concept

consider