‘I think therefore I am’ is perhaps philosophy’s most well known phrase, at least to non philosophers, but it is often misunderstood to mean that thinking is what defines us as humans, our most important quality.
The real meaning of this phrase, written by Descartes in 1637, isn’t exactly that thinking is important or valuable. This short sentence encapsulates within itself a giant leap forward in philosophical thought- the ability to prove our own existence.