Bigger Jars - I think therefore, I am

Cuz your mom told you so.

Thats how early ages of though were structured. There were general traditional ideas that everyone held to, usually passed down person to person. It was then accepted by all people that this was "true". The church was the fundamental authority, and many of the philosophers of that age were believers.

The believers used philosophy not to explain god, but to understand their faith. God was, the starting point of philosophy, and its proofs had God as the source.

Then came Descartes.

Could anything be supported by evidence and arguement?
Was there anything he claimed to know that could not be reasonably doubted?
If he found something, it could be a foundation upon which he could build everything else he knew.

There was one thing he could not doubt.

This is brilliance.

It made no sense to doubt his own existence as a thinking thing. For once he doubted it, he proved its truth. Then came the saying:

"I think, therefore I am"

Notice, now the justification of knowledge starts with Man's senses and man's interactions.

Following, Descartes was unsure of how to justify other knowledge. He soon concluded that if he had a clear and distinct idea of something, then it must be true. Knowledge was then justified by the Human Consciousness, by humans being hte observers interacting with the world, the object. This is also characteristic of empiricists (think empirical, or base form [as in chem]).

Kant took it a step further.

Can it be taken a step further?

Before Kant, the mind and senses were viewed as passive inactive objects. People might see or touch the same object and give differing information, but it was considered that their senses were basically passive. But that all changed with Kant.

Kant argued that the senses and the mind structure information and make judgements on it also. In other words the mind is very active in interacting with the world and objects.

This brings up another question, if this is true, can anyone be right about anything? If i ever see a green door, how will i know it is green? It could be my mind reacting with the door color, it could also be my age, and my eye seems to be reading "green".

So Kant argued that no one can see things as they actually are. He is assuming all men equal at this point. Further philosophers took this premise and ran with it, emphasizing the effect of the mind interacting/affecting reality consumption.

Summary: You think, therefore you are, unless your mind is all wack and telling you that you are a bear.