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A History of Ideas: "I Think, Therefore I Am"

Stephen Fry on Descartes - "I Think, Therefore I Am"

What can we know for certain? Can we trust what our senses are telling us? Can we even trust absolute truths, such as those of mathematics? What if our brains are being manipulated to make basic mathematical errors? These were just some of the questions that led the philosopher Renee Descartes to the one thing of which he could be certain – that he was thinking. From this, he was able to make his most famous conclusion: ‘Cogito, ergo sum’, ‘I think, therefore I am’.

Want to hear more on this topic?

Here’s the whole episode from A History of Ideas – Philosopher Barry Smith on Descartes and Consciousness.

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