I think, therefore Descartes exists.
quote by Saul Steinberg
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Descartes' Despair
How can we affirm our own existence?
Cogito ergo sum, Descartes said,
I think therefore I am.
But wait!
Who is doing the thinking?
The body?
Am I my body?
Well, Descartes explained, we are talking about
Two incompatible substances:
The unextended and indivisible mind
In contrast with the extended and divisible matter,
Res cogitans versus res extensa.
Yes, but am I my body?
How is the contact created
Between the mental
And the physical worlds?
Princess Elizabeth of the Palatinate asked.
Well, somewhere at the base of the brain,
In the pineal gland, replied the philosopher.
Oh, I have a problem with that,
The princess remarked.
For, if the brain exists in space,
How can the non-spatial mind dwell in it?
And Descartes threw up his hands
In despair.
poem by Paul Hartal
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The Beginning Of Understanding
at a certain point when you begin to doubt
every word that i say
i start to believe that you are beginning to believe me
to understand what could have been understood from the point of doubt
you ask what if this is true and what if this is not
possibilities are beginnings
i begin to believe you
if you only know that the foundation of everything is doubt
a la Descartes
to the conclusion that you the doubter exist
and that is
the most certain thing possible under the heavy clouds of doubts.
i think i doubt, therefore i think the doubter exists.
it is the mind after all making a mind unto itself.
poem by Ric S. Bastasa
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The Ghost Machine
Wittgenstein took a sip from his tea.
"You're wrong Descartes, I can tell you,
because body and mind are one".
"Wittgenstein is right", seconded Ryle.
He looked very angry
and shook his head as he continued:
"In claiming that your thoughts are separated
from your body you created a dogma
of the ghost in the machine."
"Gentlemen", Descartes said, "relax.
Where were you when I talked about these things?
You were not even born then".
"Wait a minute", said Bohm. "You're all wrong."
"What? " snapped out Ryle.
"You heard it correctly. You're all wrong", insisted Bohm.
"You have to explain", Wittgenstein said.
Descartes looked to be perplexed.
"Well", explained Bohm,
"since everything in the universe is information,
the existence of matter is nothing but a myth.
The universe is an enormous thought, a giant computer.
It is the machine, which is the ghost."
poem by Paul Hartal
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I think, therefore I am.
quote by Descartes
Submitted by Silvia Velea
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I think; therefore I am.
quote by Rene Descartes
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Everything is self-evident.
quote by Rene Descartes
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Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power.
One cannot conceive anything so strange and so implausible that it has not already been said by one philosopher or another.
Travelling is almost like talking with those of other centuries.
quote by Rene Descartes
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There is nothing so strange and so unbelievable that it has not been said by one philosopher or another.
quote by Rene Descartes
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Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense - no one needs more of it than one already has
It is not enough to have a good mind the main thing is to use it well.
In order to improve the mind, we ought less to learn, than to contemplate.
It is only prudent never to place complete confidence in that by which we have even once been deceived.
It is not enough to have a good mind; the main thing is to use it well.
quote by Rene Descartes
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Historical reminder Always put Horace before Descartes.
quote by Donald O. Rickter
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An optimist may see a light where there is none, but why must the pessimist always run to blow it out?
quote by Rene Descartes
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Nothing is more fairly distributed than common sense: no one thinks he needs more of it than he already has.
quote by Rene Descartes
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When any one has offended me, I try to raise my soul so high that the offence cannot reach it.
Each problem that I solved became a rule, which served afterwards to solve other problems.