These are the times of unreason. look at what is happening around. Read what is being written. Hear what is being told. From newspapers to news channels, all are talking in a language that is taxing the reason. From research findings to statistical data to economic theories to political ideology, there is chaotic information all around. That people are thriving on this chaos is a different story altogether, but the fact that chaos rules cannot be denied.
Is there a way outIJ Not sure, but recapitulating the ideas of French philosopher Rene Descartes, also called the father of modern Western philosophy, may well do a lot of good. At least it may give a satisfaction that one is not taken for a ride. Quoting the essence of Cartesian logic then it boils down to just three words ‘Cogito ergo sum’, the latin philosophical proposition of Descartes that in English means ‘I think, therefore I am’.
Alas thinking is a major casualty of the present times; we may call it by whatever name we like. So for some it could be the post-modern society, for others, it can be the information age, while some may choose to call this era the knowledge era. But the fact that thinking as a human attribute is facing extinction can hardly be denied.
Thinking then has to be restored and the mind activated by the spirit of enquiry. This is the reason why according to many the greatest virtue of the Cartesian logic is doubt or questioning. The focus of the philosophy of Descartes is on the enquiring mind. This enquiring mind uses intrusion, which Descartes suggests is the ability to use the pure light of the mind as opposed to the evidence of the senses or of the imagination.
Descartes advocates that to understand any problem, there is a need to embrace intuition that may clear all doubts. This has to be followed by the analysis that would help decompose complex problems into simplest possible units. Thereafter, you need to synthesise to reach the truth that has been reached by the two preceding steps. Putting these in order, which is starting with the simplest, reached at by intuition, to the more complex ones deduced from these. And finally there is need to apply deductive reasoning to find the link between the intuition and the ultimate consequences.
Descartes suggests that we need to reject everything of which we have the slightest cause to doubt as false so as to find out if anything remained that could be called indubitable. He was right because our senses often deceive us and we often make mistakes in reasoning even on simple matters. For Descartes, human existence was only as a thinking being.
Amid the chaos prevailing today, Descartes’ ideas certainly provide the right clues for understanding the truth which ordinarily is judged by information. So the next time you see an advertisement claiming something that does not appeal to reason, doubt it and question the veracity of the claim. A celebrity endorsing a product with extraordinary attributes — doubt it. A politician promising the sky — doubt it. Remember, you doubt therefore you exist. The golden truth is, in the words of author Agatha Christie’s legendry detective Hercule Poirot, “It is the brain, the little grey cells, on which one must rely.” One must seek the truth within, not without. So think before accepting anything as the gospel truth.
The writer is a professor of management and public speaker. He can be reached at ppathak.ism@gmail.com