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By C. Jake Williams. June 18, 2008
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What you see above is the new license plate cover I ordered today for my Dodge Stratus. The top line is self-explanatory. But since I know nobody will understand the bottom line, I'll explain it now for my readers. (You!)
"I am, therefore I think" is a reversal on Rene Descartes' famous line "Cogito, ergo sum." That's Latin meaning "I think, therefore I am."
The message Descartes was trying to establish is that the fact he is a thinking entity proves he exists. We can be fooled by what we see, smell, touch and even by our own dreams, but Descartes concluded that our existance cannot be denied.
Blah blah blah. It's a good philosophical thought, but not terribly useful for the average bloke, day-to-day. But I think the reverse, the saying on my new cover, can be a useful tool to think about how we are approaching our existances.
"I am, therefore I think" is two-thirds of a valid logical argument. "I think" is the conclusion following from two premises, one of which is "I am." The other premise is assumed. Here's the whole argument:
All people who exist are people who think.
I am a person who exists.
I am a person who thinks.
The argument is valid because if you assume the premises are true, there is no way for the conclusion to be false. If all who exist think, and I exist, it necessarily follows that I think.
By now you've probably spotted the one problem with the argument. What if one of the premises, specifically the first one, isn't true?
If that be the case, then the conclusion also could be false.
And in fact, I believe the first premise is not true in our society. I do NOT believe that everyone who exists also thinks. But I wish it were more true than experience has taught me. I wish everyone would think more, or at all. Too many people don't think. It kills me.
The point of my license plate cover is to suggest to all who read it that Hey, maybe you should spend more time pondering.
Maybe the unsound (because one premise is false) argument on my rear bumper can become a sound one. I wish we could make this happen.
I am, therefore I think. And I wish.
You were there.