溫故知新 Old wisdom, today’s insight — ONGO
After Doubting Everything, What Remains Certain?
Even if all could be deception, what finally remains that cannot be doubted?
I am, I exist.
Descartes's "thinking I" became the cornerstone of modern philosophy, yet met rebuttal at once. He built the substance of a self upon this certainty, but Hume replied that however hard he looked into the mind, he found no "thinking substance," only a bundle of passing perceptions. Kant compromised: the "I think" accompanies all experience, yet does not prove a soul-substance. Lichtenberg pressed further — "it is thinking" would be right; "I think" already claims too much. Even at the floor of certainty, the identity of the "I" split apart.
In an age where refined illusions and manufactured information shake the senses, asking "what is finally certain" is no antique but a daily survival skill.
Descartes tore down everything he could doubt in the slightest: the senses, mathematics, even the existence of the world.
📝I, Too, Stand Before It
Descartes tore down everything he could doubt in the slightest: the senses, mathematics, even the existence of the world. Yet if a cunning demon deceives me, one thing remains — the I being deceived must exist in order to be deceived. I read this not as a technique for winning certainty but as the last floor that remains only to one who has torn down all that can be torn down. When I too am shaken, I go down to the floor of this question to see what truly remains.
✍️Your Answer
The lineage of the ancients ends here. Now it is your turn before the question. There is no right answer — only how you, today, would answer.
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