How do you know you're real? It's an obvious question until you try to answer it, but let's take it seriously. How do you really know you exist? In his "Meditations on First Philosophy," René Descartes tried to answer that very question, demolishing all his preconceived notions and opinions to begin again from the foundations. All his knowledge had come from his sensory perceptions of the world. Same as you, right? You know you're watching this video with your eyes, hearing it with your ears. Your senses show you the world as it is. They aren't deceiving you, but sometimes they do. You might mistake a person far away for someone else, or you're sure you're about to catch a flyball, and it hits the ground in front of you. But come on, right here and now, you know what's right in front of you is real. Your eyes, your hands, your body: that's you. Only crazy people would deny that, and you know you're not crazy. Anyone who'd doubt that must be dreaming. Oh no, what if you're dreaming? Dreams feel real. You can believe you're swimming, flying or fighting off monsters with your bare hands, when your real body is lying in bed. No, no, no. When you're awake, you know you're awake. Ah! But when you aren't, you don't know you aren't, so you can't prove you aren't dreaming. Maybe the body you perceive yourself to have isn't really there. Maybe all of reality, even its abstract concepts, like time, shape, color and number are false, all just deceptions concocted by an evil genius! No, seriously. Descartes asks if you can disprove the idea that an evil genius demon has tricked you into believing reality is real. Perhaps this diabolical deceiver has duped you. The world, your perceptions of it, your very body. You can't disprove that they're all just made up, and how could you exist without them? You couldn't! So, you don't. Life is but a dream, and I bet you aren't row, row, rowing the boat merrily at all, are you? No, you're rowing it wearily like the duped, nonexistent doof you are/aren't. Do you find that convincing? Are you persuaded? If you aren't, good; if you are, even better, because by being persuaded, you would prove that you're a persuaded being. You can't be nothing if you think you're something, even if you think that something is nothing because no matter what you think, you're a thinking thing, or as Descartes put it, "I think, therefore I am," and so are you, really. (Airplane engine)
Hûn çawa dizanin ku hûn birastî hene? Heta mirov li ser nefikire pirs hesan xuya dike. Haydê em li bersivê bigerin. Hûn çawa dizanin ku hûn birastî hene? Di pirtûka "Meditations on First Philosophy," René Descartes hewil dike bersiv bide gelek pirsan. Hemû raman û mefhûmê kevin radike, ji serî dest pê dike. Hemû zanyariyen tên, ji hîsên tê tên. Wisa ye,ne? Tu zanî ku bi çavan dibînî, bi guhan dibihîsî. Hîsê te dinyayê nîşanî te dikin. Te naxapînin, lê carina jî dixapînin. Ji dûr yekî xelat dibînin, an bi bawer te gogê bigire, lê gog dikeve ber te. Lê ha niha û li vir, hûn dizanin li pêş we çi rast e. Çavên tê, destên te, bedena te: tu yî. Tenê yekî dîn qebul nake û hûn ne dîn in. Hercî guman bike dive xewnê de be . Oo,belkî tu jî di xewnê de yî? Xewn rastî xuya dikin. Di xewnan de,tu difirî bi destê xwe şerê cinawira dike, lê bi rastî tu dirêjkirî yî. Na,na,na. Dema hûn şiyar in, hûn dizanin ku hûn şiyar in. Lê dema tu ne şiyar î, tu nizanî tu ne şiyar î. Lewma tu nikare îspat bike ku tu ne xewnê de yî. Belkî bedena te niha ne li vir e. Belkî hemû rastî wek zeman,dirûv,reng û hejmar derewên ku zanistê bedbext li hev anîn e. Na, ne wisa jî.. Descartes dibêje fikrê ku hûn zorê nebin bila zanistê bedbext jî bêjin, ras tin. Belkî bi van fikrên tevlihev tu tê xapandin. Dinyaya ku hûn hîs dikin,bedena we ye. Tu nikare bedena xwe înkar bikî. Bê wê tu ê çawa hebî? Hûn nikarin bêyî wan. Jiyan xewnekê, hûn nikarin bê encam bi kef li ber xwe bidin? Na,hûn westiyayî li ber xwe didin, wek xapandî,wek bi rastî heyî an nîn. Ev bi serê we ket? Hûn îkna bûn? Ku hûn îkna bibin baş e, Ne bibin hê baştir e. Çumkî hûn îkna bibin, ev îspat dike hûn mirovekî îknakirî ne. Hûn bifikirin hûn tiştek in, hûn ne tune ne. Hetta hûn bêjin tiştek jî ne tiştekê, hûn çi bifikirin bifikirin, hûn dibin tiştekî ku difikire. Wek Descartes gotî ''Ez difikirim lewra ez heme.'' û hun jî wisa.