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.
Article comments