“With Descartes the Cogito ergo sum [I think, therefore I am] turns into Cogito ergo res sunt</i”
I think, therefore things are
Methodical Realism
The Devil's Dictionary (1911)
Source: The Unabridged Devil's Dictionary
Context: Cartesian, adj. Relating to Descartes, a famous philosopher, author of the celebrated dictum, Cogito ergo sum -- whereby he was pleased to suppose he demonstrated the reality of human existence. The dictum might be improved, however, thus: Cogito cogito ergo cogito sum -- "I think that I think, therefore I think that I am;" as close an approach to certainty as any philosopher has yet made.
“With Descartes the Cogito ergo sum [I think, therefore I am] turns into Cogito ergo res sunt</i”
I think, therefore things are
Methodical Realism
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), II : The Starting-Point
Context: The truth is sum, ergo cogito — I am, therefore I think, although not everything that is thinks. Is not consciousness of thinking above all consciousness of being? Is pure thought possible, without consciousness of self, without personality? Can there exist pure knowledge without feeling, without that species of materiality which feelings lends to it? Do we not perhaps feel thought, and do we not feel ourselves in the act of knowing and willing? Could not the man in the stove [Descartes] have said: "I feel, therefore I am"? or "I will, therefore I am"? And to feel oneself, is it not perhaps to feel oneself imperishable?
The Tragic Sense of Life (1913), II : The Starting-Point
Source: Art & Other Serious Matters, (1985), p. 196, "Saul Steinberg"
Source: Greybeard (1964), Chapter 3 “The River: Swifford Fair” (p. 75)
“I think I am, therefore I am. I think.”
Books, Napalm and Silly Putty (2001)