This is the reality I am experiencing, and so I can conclude it exists in so far as I am capable of thought.
I think, therefore I am, and I am, therefore my reality is as well. — Lif3r
On these pretenses it has to ring true because only you are experiencing the exact experience as you. — Lif3r
Yes. But reality may not be what you think it is. As TheMadFool said, "the very idea behind the cogito ergo sum argument is the possibility of reality being an illusion." And modern science is beginning to understand that evolution didn't design us to know the world as it really is : invisible and intangible. Cognitive psychologist Donald Hoffman, in The Case Against Reality, argues that what we envision as the real world is actually a set of symbols created by each mind. Hoffman calls those mental symbols "icons" in reference to the little low-res pictures on your computer screen.I think, therefore I am, and I am, therefore my reality is as well. — Lif3r
Yes. But reality may not be what you think it is. — Gnomon
One can only think because one is already embedded in a world and a language that interprets it. — Banno
Fortunately, the scientific method of obtaining "objective" knowledge has dispelled some of the subjective uncertainty that led to mystical & magical worldviews, and to imaginative religious myths. So, I think it's safe to say that, in the 21st century, we have a deeper & broader understanding of Reality than the cave men. But we may have lost some of the visceral immediacy of knowing, as we gained more cerebral understanding.All that's indubitable is that someone has some experience of something. All the details are up for grabs. — Pfhorrest
Then you missed the point. Thought needs much more than just a thinker. Think on it a bit. — Banno
Because the the OP is directly from Descartes, proper critiques of it should follow from Descartes as well. In the two sections following his infamous assertion, he qualifies his intentions thus:
[...]
“....I take the word ‘thought’ to cover everything that we are aware of as happening within us, and it counts as ‘thought’ because we are aware of it...” — Mww
He states this clarification after the fact, but how does it apply to the very argument he provides in his Meditations for the cogito? Last I recall, it was argued by something along the lines of “I can’t doubt that I doubt” — javra
If it is not “I” but the demon’s thoughts, the proposition of “I think” would then be false. (This, ironically, hinges on the issue of who, or what, causes the thoughts, or doubts, to be.) — javra
On a different note, given this quoted affirmation from Descartes, one’s emotions would be classified as a portion of one’s thoughts. — javra
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