"I think, therefore I am"

"I think, therefore I am" <Tab/>The statement "I think, therefore I am" lays the groundwork for Renè Descartes' argument in the Meditations. To understand this expression, one must put themselves in Descartes' place. He started off trying to figure what he can know with certainty. He examined a large body of knowledge and figured out that he cannot be certain of any knowledge at all. Beginning in …showed first 75 words of 576 total…

…showed last 75 words of 576 total…with certainty. The subject of the phrase is nothing more than a bundle of thoughts. If this subject can think, then he must exist. The separation of the mind and body shows that the mind can live without its body, as long as thinking is still occurring. The act of thinking is what constitutes one's existence. Works Cited Descartes, Renè. Meditations on First Philosophy. Trans. Donald A. Cress. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company, 1993.