“‘I think I exist,’ he said wearily. ‘I am conscious of my own identity. I was born and I shall die. I have arms and legs. I occupy a particular point in space. No other solid object can occupy the same point simultaneously.” (214)
Rene Descartes was a famous philosopher. He used reasoning to find a simple answer to the complicated question that all philosophers ask: “do I exist?” He said the fact that you are asking yourself that question, and doubting your existence, proves that one exists. “I think, therefore I am,” he wrote. Descartes also said that the mind is what matters most, and is the only thing we can prove exists. Orwell alludes to this quote when Winston says, “I think I exist.” He does this because of the contrast between these two belief systems. Descartes believed in free-thinking, new ideas, and concrete evidence that can at least be worked out by reasoning. Big Brother’s society controls thoughts and changes the past, making nothing certain.
"Cogito Ergo Sum." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 04 Sept. 2011.<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cogito_ergo_sum>.
Rene Descartes. 09 Dec. 2002. Web. 04 Sept. 2011. <http://renedescartes.com/>.
nice thinking -- the contrast between these two systems; and the language is well done as well, particularly that last line
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