Now, picture Descartes sitting in his room. His pet dog, which he considers a mere machine governed by instinct (Discourse) lies sleeping at his feet. Otherwise, he is alone and meditating. Through his mind repeatedly glides, “Cogito, ergo sum, I think, therefore I am, cogito, ergo sum, I think therefore I am.” He sits contemplating how he will ever reason from that undeniable truth to the fact that he has a body. His thinking disturbs him deeply because he wonders, “Maybe I am just a mind. Maybe my body is not real. Maybe I just think it is out there in reality.”
So taken is he by his contemplation that he ignores time passing. After an entire day slips by, Descartes feels his first hunger pang. He ignores it because his body just might not be there. He knows he must “withdraw the mind from the senses” (Meditations) because his craving for food might not exist. Several more hours slide slowly by; his hunger grows, especially his desire for a good cup of hot coffee. He needs stimulation from food.
Suddenly, the light turns on and the ah-hah thought breaks Descartes’ obsession with his Cogito, “Hm-m,” he thinks. “If I want to keep on thinking, something within me wants to eat. I can’t keep up this prolonged meditating without food or I’ll end up sick or dead. Damn, I must have a body that supplies my thinking mind with sustenance.”
So undeniable is his realization that a bright smile crosses the great philosopher’s face. “I’ve done it. I’ve crossed the gap. I have absolute proof that my body exists. It’s not just instinct; my body says I’m really hungry!”
Descartes gets up from his easy chair and walks to the kitchen where he asks his maid to heat up a huge piece of left over vegetable lasagna. Descartes was mostly a vegetarian (The Bloodless Revolution). Once and for all, he has solved the mind-body dualism.
He pours himself a cup of hot coffee and walks out on his veranda with his hands together behind his back and smiles at the world. “Edo ergo cogito atque sum!” he thinks. This, of course, is my Latin expression for I eat, therefore I think and exist.
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