Q0054

René Descartes

A verified English rendering from the curated archive.

English

I think, therefore I am.
Thinker René Descartes
School Modern Rationalism
Source Principles of Philosophy (Latin)
Theme Self
Another quotation More from this thinker

Source context

This English passage is associated with Principles of Philosophy (Latin), within the tradition of Modern Rationalism. The wording below is a verified rendering prepared for careful reading rather than a claim of unique translation authority.

A short reading

Read in the register of self, the sentence asks the reader to test an assumption rather than to collect a slogan. In René Descartes's wider work, similar claims are usually offered as prompts for judgment: what would have to be true for the sentence to hold, and what would follow if it did?

How to cite this quotation

APA: René Descartes. (n.d.). I think, therefore I am. In Philosophy Blind Box. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0054

MLA: René Descartes. “I think, therefore I am..” Philosophy Blind Box, https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0054.

Chicago: René Descartes. “I think, therefore I am..” Philosophy Blind Box. Accessed 2026. https://www.philosophydef.com/quotes/q0054.

Same thinker

More from René Descartes

  1. Once in a lifetime, everything must be doubted.
  2. The things we conceive very clearly and very distinctly are all true.
  3. Good sense is the best distributed thing in the world.
  4. I am, I exist—whenever it is uttered by me, or conceived in the mind, it is necessarily true.
  5. to change my desires rather than the order of the world

All quotations by René Descartes

Same theme

More on self

  1. A friend is another self.
  2. A person's character is their destiny.
  3. I searched for myself.
  4. It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare; it is because we do not dare that they are difficult.
  5. Claim yourself for yourself.

Browse the self theme