I think, therefore I am!
: How Descartes deconstructs history of this mystery of self-discovery?
“Cogito ergo sum ; ultimate reflection and expression of
my supreme autonomous rationality. Yes, rationality which I felt by my
separation from nature and my own body. I don’t know how I could arrive at this
discovery but my entire life I was restless. I always was in search for
something. I spent my youth traveling, visiting courts and armies, mixing with
people of diverse temperaments and ranks, gathering various experiences,
testing myself in the situations which fortune offered me, and at all times
reflecting upon whatever came my way so as to derive some profit from it."[1]
I did not much believe what books say; rather I trusted only my instincts and
wished to know the depths of the ocean of the knowledge through my own ventures,
explorations and failures. So I started my journey.
Starting
with my country of birth, I traveled to Bohemia, Hungary, Germany, Holland,
Italy and finally Sweden where I died. In a way, in my journey I had already traveled to places where great philosophers of enlightenment belong. Even
though I earned a legal degree, my father pushed me to learn and work upon
algebra and mathematics. Later I also studied theology and medicine. In 1663,
after my death, my name was introduced in the index of prohibited books by
Pope. Before I arrived in this world, legends like Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543)
and Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) actually devoted their entire lives to prove
that earth moves around the sun. I was born after them (1596-1650). Further,
Galileo (1564-1642), Newton (1642-1727) and Gottfried Leibnitz (1646-1716) were busy working
to lay the foundations of modern scientific and mathematical knowledge
system. They established the evidences of functioning of solar
system, the forces organizing the universe and the mathematical equations which
govern them. If you ask me what I achieved in my life, then I would only point
out what historians have noted: “The key idea was to use
coordinate axes to bring algebra and geometry together. This was an innovation
that enabled mathematicians to solve complex problems and invent new forms of
mathematics such as calculus, which laid the foundation for modern science and
technology.”[2] But frankly, if you ask me my personal
opinion, what was contribution to the world, I will only allude to only one
sentence which all history and philosophy will ridicule as immensely obvious: “I
think, therefore I am!”
You know,
expressing doubt and quest for evidences has been my lifelong madness. I am
passionately haunted my reason and may be that is my only religion, that is my honest
dogma and that is my spirituality to relate to the cosmos inside the mind and
outside the earth. Whenever I come across any challenging phenomena or complex
philosophical-real life problem, I dissect it into infinite pieces to
understand each and its relationship to the problem at hand. Slowly, steadily
and surely I establish relationship between minutest possible aspects of the
issue contributing to the challenge. From these observations, I derive my own
understanding about the cause and effects in different concepts and processes. Like
this, I started dealing with knowledge of the world around. Then after years of
practice of this way of scrutinizing life around people started naming this as
deduction and further deductive approach. This is still, an explanation of my
scientific achievement. But what was special in that one sentence 'Cogito,
ergo sum'—that history immortalized my existence through those three words in
every book and library and in every mind of finest thinkers, progressive reformers
and leaders of modern democracies around the modern world. What was so unique
about it?
Cogito,
ergo sum allowed me to
say confidently that howsoever massive may be the force and pressure of the
ridiculous, mystical and obscurantist traditions, customs and beliefs may
surround my life and try to suffocate me; if I doubt genuineness of some
thought, norm or law I should be able to continue to think along that line with
evidence, logic and rational debate. Many times, it is not necessary to believe
what my body sees or what I feel or what I am feed with the obvious explanation
of the events around me. I need not just nod and follow like herd. I have to
question, investigate and prove what I think ---something is right, wrong. And
beyond binaries of correctness and falsification, I should be able to
underscore the process from cause to effect; so that rationally speaking I
could come out with grounded logical explanation of concepts.
So if
like to paint a picture of universe in the colors of my imagination; I could do
it. If I want to draw a sketch of the anatomical functioning of my body, I
could do it like Michael Angelo. If I want to script a poem celebrating the natural
phenomena and their impact on our lives I could do it like Alexander
Pope. If I want to narrate a story
of how the universe was created, expanded and how our biological life system
evolved, I could do it with certain proofs to be documented much later after my
death by Darwin and other explorers. If I wanted to argue how our democratic
civil society should evolve, then I could write essays like Voltaire, David
Hume, John Locke and Thomas Paine. If I wanted to erect an architecture
structure depicting modern invention of James Watt or Thomas Edison; I could prepare
those models as Leonardo De Vinci could do it. If I think that mechanical
forces governing world are actually deeply rooted in subjectivity and
relativity of time-space relationship of universe, then I could actually think
like Einstein to overthrow the rigid understanding about the ever changing
universe.
I could
think of anything, because I was confident that thinking---along with instincts,
against the method, beyond the horizon, opposite the tide, beneath the skepticism,
above the rainbow of diverse imaginations, sailing on the venture of discovery,
riding the gut feeling of invention, flying the inclusive flamingo of
innovation and reaching the destination of peace; in life, in death. I could
think, that has been my asset; that has been my ammunition; that has been my
charm; that has been my addiction; that has been my duty and that has been honor
and that has been my endeavor.
I think,
therefore I am. We thought—therefore we are. History thought; therefore future
is. Art thinks, therefore society runs. Science thinks, therefore technology flies.
Writers think, therefore civilizations progress. Inventors think—therefore we
survive and develop. Love thinks, so hatred withers away. Dreams
think—therefore nightmares wash away. Good meditates—therefore evil thinks
twice before knocking our doors. I think, so I am; We think, so we are. Thanks
for listening to me. Let God of Reason bless you.”
[1]From
Descartes’ book Discourse On The Method
[2]
Descartes’ Analytic Geometry, a paper by Noah Pritt retrieved from www.mdhc.org/files/579_Paper_Junior_Pritt.pdf
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