In Descartes time, there was a thing called “Global Skepticism” where everybody questioned the existence of everything. I wanted to understand this philosophical proposition better, so I looked up a YouTube video on it. Here’s a very brief and simplified version of the already brief and simplified video: the key to understanding “I think, therefore I am,” (in Latin: “c ogito ergo sum“) is by understanding how doubt plays into it. In this joke, he says “I think not.” This line would normally would be understood as turning down another drink, but in this context, we understand it as Descartes saying that he does not think, so he is not conscious and therefore does not exist. ![]() ![]() We haven’t formally studied Descartes in class, but most people should be familiar with his famous line, “I think, therefore I am.” Descartes’ idea is that because he thinks and is conscious, therefore he exists. Descartes replies, “No, I think not,” and disappears in a puff of logic. When he finishes his drink, the bartender asks him if he would like another. ![]() Rene Descartes walks into a bar and orders a drink. I stumbled upon a philosophy joke a few weeks ago, and I think most people know this one already.
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