"I think therefore I am" - it's a classic. If you are a philosopher you say "I am thinking, therefore I exist". If your Descartes it's simply "Je pense donc je suis". However you say it, it's the Cogito ergo sum, and has got to be one of the most well known philosophical sayings. It's exact origins are unsure, although it is mainly associated with the french man René Descartes (below).
I noticed that while I was trying to think everything false, it was necessary that I, who was thinking this, was something. And observing that this truth, "I am thinking, therefore I exist" [cogito ergo sum]
René Descartes used the cogito to help with his "method of doubt". To help him demonstrate his point he used the image of the evil demon (as mentioned in previous posts). This evil demon tricks us all so even self-evident truths of things such as geometry are no longer certain (depends how self-evident maths is to you). Descartes says the demon has stripped him of everything (I don't mean just his clothes) but his senses and all his real surroundings. Despite this René Descartes still had the cogito. He says if his life is delusions at least he is there to be deluded.
It will never bring it about that i am nothing so long as I think that I am something... I am, I exist.
There are problems of Cogito - it is in first person. My Cogito ergo sum is different to yours - I know I exist, but I don't know if you do and vice versa. So at this point it looks pretty hard for René Descartes to prove anything with out doubt - or with out gaining the response: "But the demon could have done that!" Although René Descartes has a solution, which is God. God according to Descartes, is above all doubt - as God is clear and true like the Cogito. In my opinion I don't really think this argument is up to much but this is what Descartes says:
God is the source of all our ideas, and because God is benevolent he will not try to deceive us (not like the evil demon) We use or powers of observation, a gift given by God, these powers will lead us to see the truth not lies - thus the world we see is true and good. So we can just start again with rebuilding human knowledge - I feel cheated by this answer too.
But we have to remember that in the 17th century that religion was pretty powerful stuff, and not believing in God or not supporting the church is risky! Nevertheless Descartes has been hailed as the father of modern philosophy, but it may not be for the reasons he wanted. His life's aim was to dispel doubt once and for all, but in-fact he has raised more doubts than stopping them. Scepticism has been top of the philosophical agenda and René Descartes put it there.
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I think that the "I" in the cogito is in fact open to doubt or - at the very least- is not very well defined. According to Freddy Ayres a more accurate version of the cogito would be 'there are thoughts'. It is likely that "I" am "having' these thoughts (what ever that means) but not certain.
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