Cogito ergo sum is a Latin phrase that i've learnt years ago, back when i was taking the Western history course in college. This well-known philosophical statement originated from the great philosopher and mathematician René Descartes . The original statement was in French Je pense, donc, je suis, which translated to i think, therefore i am.I've never learnt Latin before (nor French for that matter), but I don't know why this phrase kinda stuck with me ever since i first came across it. I remember vaguely that back in high school, one of the teachers had talked about a similar phrase in Chinese (我思，所以我在). The teacher also quoted a verse from 庄子:
昔者庄周梦胡蝶，栩栩然胡蝶也，自喻适志与，不知周也。俄然觉，则蘧蘧然周也。不知周之梦为胡蝶与，胡蝶之梦为周与？Basically, the essence of this verse was that 庄子 dreamt about being a butterfly. He then questioned himself if he indeed dreamt that he was a butterfly, or was it that a butterfly had dreamt of being him? This may sound silly but to look deeper into it, how can anyone be so sure that the reality we see is indeed the real world? I suspect the writer of The Matrix has read about 庄子's idea and thus came up with that story.
I'm not a philosopher (despite my constant attempt to be one when i'm with my friends), nor do i really fully understand the profound meaning behind Descartes' phrase. My interpretation of this phrase is straight-forward: our existence is established in our thought process. When we think, we exist. Of course, to the staunch believers of God, even when we cease to exist physically, we are still present spiritually. If spirits do think, then i would say Descartes' notion is still correct; spirits think and thus they exist as well.
However, like any other renown notions, there were always criticisms to invalidate it. Critics had proposed that the idea should have been the other way around -- we exist and therefore we think. It a way, the phrase becomes circular: we exist --> we think; we think --> we exist...
Simply put, it becomes a philosophical version of the chicken and egg question.I can't say for sure if our existence can indeed be defined by our thought process, but i'm darn sure that i "blog" because i think too much. Many things can trigger my mind and give me the impulse to write, to express, to share my point of view... Then for me, rather than cogito ergo sum, shouldn't it be cogito ergo scribo (i think, therefore i write)? Hmmm, that's something to ponder...
Labels: blogging, introspection
