ABSTRACT
Cogito ergo sum: I think, therefore I am. Philosophers have often pointed out that this argument of Descartes, in his Discourse on Method (1637), is a circular one, since the ‘I’ of ‘I think’ assumes exactly what the writer is trying to prove. From the point of view of a cultural historian, however, this passage remains important as a celebrated affirmation of the importance and the unity of the self.
