"I think, therefore I am." This famous quote has been hailed as a philosophical breakthrough ever since Rene Descartes first sprung it on an apparently breathless world. To me, it has always seemed to be conclusive proof that even in the 17th century some people just had too much time on their hands. Most of the world is too busy getting on with the business of existing to question whether or not they do, in fact, exist.

Long before Descartes came along with his theory of starting out with absolute doubt about anything and everything including his own existence, the philosophers who preceded him were debating much more practical questions. Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, for instance, are not known to have spent any time on the question of whether or not they and their contemporaries were actually living human beings. Instead, they put their talents of philosophical inquiry to more sensible use. They asked and attempted to answer questions such as "how can human beings live together most constructively and creatively?"

Thousands of years later, questions like that are still relevant and meaningful - at least, they are to people who do not live in ivory towers as Descartes apparently did. (Keep in mind, this is the same man who solemnly advised us that animals do not feel pain because they are more like machines than living beings. Do you think that the good professor ever actually saw or knew a real animal?)

Truly significant philosophers do not waste their own time - or the time of the world - on absurd, pointless questions. People who seriously doubt their own existence are more in need of psychiatry than philosophy.

Learn more about this author, Ron Hughes.
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