René Descartes, brilliant French mathematician and philosopher (of Cartesian Plane fame, for anyone who’s looked at any graphing paper recently) is perhaps most popularly known for his Meditations, in which he tries to establish a foundation for certain knowledge by systematically rejecting all beliefs that could be doubted.

From the same mind that gave us the Dream Argument (if you cannot tell you’re dreaming while in a dream, how do you know you’re not dreaming right now?), comes the method of doubt. Unlike Søren Kierkegaard’s later approach which turned the question on its head, Descartes asked, put simply, that since your basic senses can readily deceive you— for your eyes can be illuded, your skin fooled, and your ears played tricks on— what can you truly trust?
Really the only belief you can hold, with absolute certainty, is of the existence of your own self, since you must first exist to be able to ponder the very question. Written in the original French as “Je pense, donc je suis”, this seemingly self-evident truth remains immortalized in Latin as “cogito ergo sum” (“I think, therefore I am“)

Quasi-philosophical entrées aside, the reason for this prelude is that someone finally acknowledged my WhatsApp ‘About‘ just a couple days ago. For as long as I can remember, it’s been “cogito ergo sam” / I think, therefore I Sam.

Although I do realise that starting with the explanation rather than the pun itself was putting Descartes before the horse.