• alan1000
    175
    I recently read an account which suggested that the inspiration for Descartes' famous axiom, "I think, therefore I am" was actually suggested by a little-known relative, Hippolyte Marius Descartes. HM was apparently fond of claiming, as a sort of dinner-table conversation piece, that he could cause himself to shit just by thinking about it (dinner-table conversation was evidently somewhat less refined in the 17th C). Musing on this, Descartes was inspired to philosophise on the theme "cogito, ergo caco" (I think, therefore I shit).

    Informed by his publishers that this would not do for a published text, he amended it to the more familiar form.

    Can anybody help me with references to support this account?
bold
italic
underline
strike
code
quote
ulist
image
url
mention
reveal
youtube
tweet
Add a Comment