I Think, Therefore I Am
Descartes’ argument revolving around the alleged knowledge that proof of existence lies in thoughts alone has been counter-argued since it is a circular argument. The cogito’s premise for the existence of a person is the existence of thoughts itself: he lacks justification for life other than life itself, though. He claims that a person stops existing once he stops thinking, but this is contradictory in itself due to the concept of dreams. A person does not think while in a dream, yet they still exist upon waking up. There are some that say we do think while we dream, though, but how would we know? We are asleep and have no way of knowing, from ourselves.
This argument that “I think, therefore I am,” leaves room for doubt since the thoughts of a mind could themselves be deceived. Descartes believed that everything that “ever entered [his] mind was no more truth than the illusion of [his] dreams,” meaning his thoughts were not necessarily true, yet he believed that the mere process of thinking proves a person’s existence, much like God exists since he tells us he exists via the Bible. A person who exists thinks, so a person who thinks must also exist. This type of circular reasoning leads to less certainty of existence, establishing room for critique in the argument.
The cogito argument is evil genius proof, which is the possibility that an evil demon is deceiving our reality…
