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I Think, Therefore I Am?


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Laudate_Dominum

[quote name='philothea' date='02 December 2009 - 06:05 PM' timestamp='1259795107' post='2013377']
Wow... all this froth and babble makes it awkward to add something substantive to a topic. And everything seems to degrade into jokes pretty fast.


:mellow:
[/quote]
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

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[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='02 December 2009 - 06:06 PM' timestamp='1259795165' post='2013378']
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
[/quote]
Dangit!

When else am I going to get a chance to brag about all the Descartes I've read!?!

:sadder:

Fine, fine. You're right. I give in.

[img]http://icanhascheezburger.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/funny-pictures-kitten-is-more-comfortable-on-this-side-of-the-egg-carton.jpg[/img]

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[quote name='philothea' date='02 December 2009 - 06:05 PM' timestamp='1259795107' post='2013377']
Wow... all this froth and babble makes it awkward to add something substantive to a topic. And everything seems to degrade into jokes pretty fast.


:mellow:
[/quote]
Aw. Post something substantive!

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I like name-dropping with big words (as above) but unfortunately less people respond when I do that. ^_^

I'm so weak. :sadwalk:

Edited by Nihil Obstat
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[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='02 December 2009 - 04:06 PM' timestamp='1259795165' post='2013378']
Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.
[/quote]
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHObTUc60cU[/media]

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[quote name='homeschoolmom' date='02 December 2009 - 07:33 AM' timestamp='1259757233' post='2013140']
French philosopher, Rene Descartes walks into a bar. The bartender asks, "Can I get you a beer?" Descartes, a teetotaler, quickly interjects, "I think NOT!" and promptly disappears.
[/quote]
Let's not put Descartes before the the horse.

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[quote name='Apotheoun' date='02 December 2009 - 07:12 PM' timestamp='1259799146' post='2013414']
[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHObTUc60cU[/media]
[/quote]

fuTILE

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Laudate_Dominum

[quote name='philothea' date='02 December 2009 - 06:59 PM' timestamp='1259798365' post='2013400']
Dangit!

When else am I going to get a chance to brag about all the Descartes I've read!?!
[/quote]
I beg you to brag away! Do you have a favorite aspect of Descartes writings? Out of the popular Cartesian hot topics I would probably say that the mind-body dispute is my least favorite. I suppose I like his method of skepticism and deduction, just the whole rationalist turn in general. As a software engineer with some game development experience I must say that I appreciate Descartes' contributions to analytic geometry. lulz.

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[quote name='Socrates' date='02 December 2009 - 07:16 PM' timestamp='1259799384' post='2013418']
Let's not put Descartes before the the horse.
[/quote]
It would be a tragedy if this man from Francis Bacon in hades for his unorthodox views.
:mellow:


([size="1"]Disclaimer: I do not necessarily believe that M. Descartes had unorthodox views, nor do I wish his soul ill or make any claims to know the status of his salvation. He simply served as the vehicle for my wordplay.[/size])

Edited by USAirwaysIHS
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Alrighty, then. Discussing!

In [i]Meditations on First Philosophy[/i] where the quote first appears... well, let's just say, it's a shame it's taken out of context so often, because Descartes builds up a pretty nice argument. He wanted to dismiss any assumption he couldn't be [i]absolutely certain[/i] of. His memory could be wrong, his senses could be wrong, he could be trapped in a dream or a hallucination, or deliberately deceived by some powerful, malevolent being. He's got [i]nothing[/i]... except one surety: he's thinking about it. And because he's thinking about it, he must, in fact, exist.

And from there he builds up the existence of God, and then kinda heads off into the weeds (IMO) with some other deductions, but that first argument always struck me.

[quote name='Laudate_Dominum' date='02 December 2009 - 07:32 PM' timestamp='1259800358' post='2013428']
I beg you to brag away! Do you have a favorite aspect of Descartes writings? Out of the popular Cartesian hot topics I would probably say that the mind-body dispute is my least favorite. I suppose I like his method of skepticism and deduction, just the whole rationalist turn in general. As a software engineer with some game development experience I must say that I appreciate Descartes' contributions to analytic geometry. lulz.
[/quote]

:lol:

Yeah, analytic geometry is the best, of course. I am not fond of Descartes' mind-body dualism. "I perceive that my body is a separate thing, therefore it totally is!" Pfft. Lame. At least Plato made the mind (or soul) and body distinction [i]cool[/i].

(Everyone should study philosophy so they can knowledgeably form their own opinions about life, existence, reality, and so on, but in the end it always seems to come down to arguing about things that can't be be proved, and nitpicking the meanings of words. I decided that coolness wins. :cool: )

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[quote name='Nihil Obstat' date='02 December 2009 - 01:16 AM' timestamp='1259734577' post='2013061']
:blink: How do you put the accent on the first syllable?
[/quote]

To quote the Monty Python "Philosophers' Drinking Song:"

And REN-ay DAY-CART
Was a drunken fluffy air extraction -
I drink therefore I am!

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[quote name='Luigi' date='03 December 2009 - 12:02 AM' timestamp='1259816552' post='2013620']
To quote the Monty Python "Philosophers' Drinking Song:"

And REN-ay DAY-CART
Was a drunken fluffy air extraction -
I drink therefore I am!
[/quote]

The above quotation has been paraphrased by mysterious unknown forces. "Fluffy air extraction" is not part of the original lyrics. The original lyrics would rhyme with Descartes.

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dairygirl4u2c

[quote]In Meditations on First Philosophy where the quote first appears... well, let's just say, it's a shame it's taken out of context so often, because Descartes builds up a pretty nice argument. He wanted to dismiss any assumption he couldn't be absolutely certain of. His memory could be wrong, his senses could be wrong, he could be trapped in a dream or a hallucination, or deliberately deceived by some powerful, malevolent being. He's got nothing... except one surety: he's thinking about it. And because he's thinking about it, he must, in fact, exist.[/quote]

this sums up well his quotation. i remember when i was little thinking 'i think therefore i am', wow what babble, truism etc. but i hadnt then appreciated the issues he was facing, questioning his very existence etc. sorta like that phrase, 'where ever you go there you are', i often made fun of until i really understood it. (it was very 'conservative' ish of me, those makings fun of without knowing anything, to insert some political jabs)

the phrase has also always reminded me of the distinctios i like to toy with regarding knowing things 'a priori' and 'a posteriori'. to sum up in an oversimplistic way, 'before v. after experience'. can you truly know that you exist a priori? you have only yourself as your reference, you cannot be definitio be beyond yourself to really say 'objectively'. some people say nothing can be known a priori- and this is yet another example they would say. so perhaps in some deeper sense one cannot truly know... but for effective purposes, such as to not make a mockery of what philsophy can do for us as it's often criticized for, we can know that we exist by virtue of us thinking. and from there, it has always seemed to me, we are free to act in a similar 'rational' way, and begin taking for granted what we see around us too... stop meddling in mumbo jumgbo and get on with it- it might all be false, but at least you are not, and at least you have a good foundation for acting.
it does get into the before and after stuff a lot... it's sorta like the distinctios between 'inductive' and 'deductive' reasoning. is the phrase i think therefore i am, inductive or deductive? well that depends on who you ask, what their underlying philophsical biases etc are. this questio isnt as clear cut as whether a shadow existing must mean something is causing it or something. i do like to use inductio and deductio though, to really delve deeper into what is being implied and said by the phrase.

Edited by dairygirl4u2c
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