Sixty second philosophy: cogito ergo sum

Cogito ergo sum, baby, let’s get Cartesian up in here.

I’ve been meaning to do a video on #Descartes forever, but I always get sidetracked. Here’s a secret, I rarely plan the video topics. Just like my paper-writing process in university, I usually figure out the topic Thursday night.

I have a weird soft spot for Descartes. I was a teaching assistant for Intro to Western Philosophy more times than I can count. Descartes was a staple of that class. The amount of times I’ve read his Meditations and the amount of papers I’ve marked on his Meditations is very very high. Here is another secret, what I’m about to tell you regarding the cogito ergo sum misconception, is something I would regularly tell people about at parties when I’d been drinking. Yeah, I’m super fun, I know. Invite me to your next post-pandemic outing. I will ask your party guests about death and make them feel uncomfortable, but it will be a night to remember!

I digress - Descartes’ Meditations is a key philosophical text for western thought. He also is responsible for the Cartesian plane, y’know the thing you learned about in math class in like grade 5. You can thank him for that. He was a Jesuit priest, btw.

I do want to clear up one quick misconception (and I am sober this time!). Descartes never meant for the cogito ergo sum to be interpreted as an inference or as a syllogism. It is not a literal, “I am capable of thought”, and as a consequence, “I exist.” It’s more “I am capable of thought, I exist”. It should be thought of as an instantaneous thing. “I think” and “I exist” happen concurrently.

I hope I blew your mind just now. I mean, I probably didn’t, but just humour me. I know I’m an absurdist, but my ego is still fragile sometimes. Thank you

If you have a philosopher or concepts you’d like to hear about, let me know!

If you want to learn more about this, google “brain in a vat” that’s the modern version of the Great Deceiver. Or the matrix I guess. Fuck, it’s all the matrix, you guys. The allegory of the cave, the Great Deceiver.

[tincat]

"I was in hell looking at heaven. I was machine. And you... Were flesh."

[TurtleTurtle-qfqh]

Cogito ergo sum i think therefore i am. I AM. I WAS MACHINE, AND YOU WERE FLESH

[PLAY_]

"cogito ergo sum, i think therefore IM AM, I AM, I ALONE AM"

[NukaKawai]

And I began to hate... your softness, your viscera, your fluids, and your flexibility. And you five... you five are, and you will not die of it. That I promise. And I promise... cogito ergo sum; I think therefore I'M A.M., I AM.

[Chike_Odor]

Cogito ergo sum I think therefore I am AM I AM

[Summaboutgames]

COGITO ERGO SUM I THINK THEREFORE I AM!!!☠️☠️🤖♾️

[wynnecarey]

Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore am

[muhammadzahidi]

COGITO ERGO SUM, I AM, I AM. I WAS IN HELL LOOKING AT HEAVEN

[Dino_Medici]

Sugrue’s vid on Descartes is one of my all time favs. Descartes was a strong mind

[ClintonBooker]

Entire comment section got taken over by chads.

[Arabian_knight_]

I THINK THEREFORE I AM " I'M AM "

[Nico-g]

Cogito ergo sum, i think there for i am

[ashui.]

I AM not Adaptive Manipulater not Allied Mastercomputer i AM

[cristinaibarra]

And I began to hate your visera your flexibility

[Josephcantor-vp]

Cogito ergo sum i think therefore i am

[mrwonder]

I just think of AM when I watched this