How to Ace Descartes' Cogito Ergo Sum Questions on Your Exam

Let's be brutally honest: Descartes' Cogito Ergo Sum is usually taught terribly in textbooks. You don't need to be a genius to master this; you just need to understand one specific mental model.

Inside the Professor's Mind

Professors don't write Descartes' Cogito Ergo Sum questions to test your basic memorization. They write them to test if you will fall for the classic pitfall: thinking 'I think, therefore I am' proves the body exists.

When you sit down for the exam, write that specific trap at the top of your paper so you don't forget it.

What A Correct Answer Looks Like

Descartes used radical doubt to strip away everything. He realized a demon could be tricking his senses, but the very act of *doubting* proved a mind existed to do the doubting. It proves mind, not body.

If your scratch paper doesn't look like that, you are losing points.

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