Who said i think therefore i am1/12/2023 ![]() P17 Timeo Danaos et dona ferentis –Vergil I fear Greeks (even) bearing gifts. This quote from Vergil's Aeneid looms over these Pompeiian remains, much like Mount Vesuvius in the background. P16 Dabit deus his quoque finem –Vergil God will also give an end to these things. This quote is placed before a mosaic of Sappho, located in the Piazza Museo Nazionale in Naples, Italy. Nicolas Coustou's statue of Caesar located in the Louvre Museum is in the background. P14 Veni, vidi, vici –Caesar I came, I saw, I conquered. P13 Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes? –Juvenal But who will guard the guards themselves? This line from Juvenal works well with this image of soldiers from Hadrian's Column in Rome. Rodin's sculpture, "The Thinker," sitting in the garden of the Rodin museum, seems to ponder Descartes here. ![]() P12 Cogito, ergo sum –Descartes-Translation I think, therefore I am. Raphael's fresco, "The School of Athens," from the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, helps reiterate this Hippocratic translation. ![]() P11 Ars longa, vita brevis –Hippocrates-Translation Art is long, life is short. The Pseudo-Athlete of Delos, from the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, illustrates this line from Juvenal. P10 Mens sana in corpore sano –Juvenal A sound mind in a sound body. Eraser shavings serve as a nice addendum to this quote. Together this quote and the Bibliotheca Alexandrina nod to the Library of Alexandria, lost in antiquity. They condemn what they do not understand. A bust of Cicero in the Capitoline Museums is behind this line from Cicero. P7 Nihil est.simul et inventum et perfectum –Cicero Nothing is simultaneously both conceived and perfected. Seneca's words work well with this photograph of the Eagle nebula, "Pillars of Creation," captured by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. P6 Non est ad astra mollis e terris via –Seneca The trip from the earth to the stars is not an easy one. An open book lies behind this quote, possibly from Sir Francis Bacon. P5 Ipsa scientia potestas est –Sir Francis Bacon? Knowledge itself is power. Theatrical masks on a Roman mosaic from the Capitoline Museums drive home Plautus's point. P4 Saepe summa ingenia in occulto –Plautus Often the greatest minds lie hidden. An Athenian tetradrachm provides the background for this quote from Plautus. P3 Modus omnibus in rebus –Plautus Moderation in all things. A weathered column stands behind this line from Tacitus. P2 Experientia docet –Tacitus Experience teaches. This quote about victory is fitting before an image of Rome's Colosseum. See additional quotes and order a variety of buttons: P1 Amat victoria curam –Anon. These redesigned full color buttons make great classroom prizes or Latin Club fundraisers. So it’s pretty much the first building block of philosophy.Rodin's sculpture, "The Thinker," sitting in the garden of the Rodin museum, seems to ponder Descartes here. He can’t assume anything about who or what he really is but he can safely assume that he exists, otherwise, he would not be thinking about the fact that he exists. In order for him to doubt everything, he must exist. How are you supposed to know anything if you doubt everything?Įventually, he discovers his first axiom: I think therefore I am. So he started his philosophy by doubting everything.Īt first, he couldn’t figure out where to go from there. In the same sense that you don’t know you are in a dream when you are dreaming, how do you know that anything around you is as it truly is? The word comes from the Greek axíōma ‘that which is thought worthy or fit’ or ‘that which commends itself as evident.’ĭescartes basically argued that all of the axioms that had previously been used were wrong because they were not self-evident. Many people would say, “ah well I see the sun, or I feel the grass, so therefore it exists”.ĭescartes basically said, “ok, but what if your brain is in a jar, and you are just dreaming all of this?”Īn axiom or postulate is a statement that is taken to be true, to serve as a premise or starting point for further reasoning and arguments. In his work, he goes about destroying the assumptions that most people had in philosophy before him. The phrase “ I think therefore I am“, or “ Cogito ergo sum” in Latin, was made popular by the philosopher Rene Descartes.
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