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This Mistranslated Quote is Wrong in just the Right Way
Learning from Descartes’ famously out of context quote
“I think, therefore I am.”
It’s a common phrase. People often say it to mean ‘you are what you think.’ Rene Descartes originally said ‘cogito, ergo sum’ and he meant in a vastly different context than the colloquial use.
The phrase comes from the first part of his book, ‘Meditations on First Philosophy,’ to establish the fact that he does indeed exist. Why? Because he thinks, therefore his is.
But should the colloquial use of the cogito — that’s what us cool philosophy kids call the phrase — be thrown away because it’s interpreted out of context?
The first time I heard about self-image was from the fitness Youtuber Radu Antoniu. The main takeaway was that you can somehow trick yourself into becoming what you think you are through the magic of auto-suggesting a new, more fit, self-image.
It’s a bit of a wild claim. But, if I’ve heard it once since then, I’ve heard it a thousand times.
The Secret, Think and Grow Rich, even Jim Carrey used this weird mind hack to become rich and famous. Is it just some hack that rich and famous people tell us to keep wasting our time or is there actual science behind it?
