Solipsism then they must be identical, as in indistinguishable from each other and therefore one and the same thing. Dualists then attempt to identify attributes of mind that are lacked by matter (such as privacy or intentionality) or vice versa (such as having a certain temperature or electrical charge). One notable application of the identity of indiscernibles was by René Descartes in his "Meditations on First Philosophy". Descartes concluded that he could not doubt the existence of "himself" (the famous "cogito ergo sum" argument), but that he "could" doubt the (separate) existence of "his" body. From this, he inferred that the
Cogito, ergo sum itself is good and pleasant (...) and if one who sees is conscious that he sees, one who hears that he hears, one who walks that he walks and similarly for all the other human activities there is a faculty that is conscious of their exercise, so that whenever we perceive, we are conscious that we perceive, and whenever we think, we are conscious that we think, and to be conscious that we are perceiving or thinking is to be conscious that we exist... ("Nicomachean Ethics", 1170a25 ff.) Augustine of Hippo in "De Civitate Dei" writes "Si […] fallor, sum"