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Originally Posted by Aedes  I disagree. This statement does not have any ontogenic content. It describes a snapshot of the present, not how he got there. All he was trying to say with that pithy conclusion of his was that the fact that he was thinking was the only thing he could be completely sure of. And the only way he could know that he existed at all was to have something which he could not doubt. |
That is your opinion or interpretation, which I respect.
Descartes was a master of words and logic. He said EXACTLY what he meant..... "I THINK, THEREFORE I AM". Thinking preceeds being, thinking is a 'causal agency' of 'being'.
Why not try to 'stop thinking' (for three hours) and see what happens?
If you are successful you may wind up noticing that 'the world' (as we call it) is held together by our 'thinking'.
When all thought ceases everything (physical 'thing') virtually disappears. It is our descriptions of the world that make the world what it is.
Test this out and simply 'shut off' the hamster wheel of thinking. Its your mind so it should do what it is that you tell it to. Right? :-)
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