Analysis Of Descartes's 'I Think Therefore I Am'

In the second meditation, Descartes comes to the conclusion of, “I think, therefore I am”, (Goodman, 2018), but what does this mean? In the first meditation, Descartes tells us that if a belief can be doubted, then it cannot be considered as knowledge. He believes that his body and senses are not real, as it could be doubted. Because he can doubt all of his knowledge, he is looking for a system that can justify his beliefs. In this paper I will be discussing the idea that lays out the foundation for Descartes new belief system which is, “I think therefore I am”. With Descartes new found approach of doubting everything in existence, he begins to doubt his body and senses and that leads him to question himself and his own existence (Descartes pg 20). He raises the question that if he does not exist, then who puts the thoughts forth in his mind? Could it be God? Surely it cannot be himself because he has no body or senses, right? He then goes on to say that there could be a demon in this world that is deceiving him to
Throughout meditations 1, he puts everything into doubt. His ability to doubt shows that he is a thinking thing. Regardless of it being true or not, he is in the act of thinking. The same rules apply with his imagination. Whether his imaginations are true or not, what remains true is that he himself thought up the imaginations. They might be real and could be doubted, but it is the process of thinking that allowed him to have those imaginations. The same can be said for his self perceptions. He mentioned that self perception comes from the body, however he goes on to say that he his bodies ability to sense a perception could only be allowed through his ability to think. His ability to think is what gives his body the perceptions (Descartes pg 22). His ability to hear, see, touch, feel, regardless of its deception that could lead to doubt, it is still coming from his ability to