Cartesian Other Cartesian Other In philosophy, the Cartesian Other, part of a thought experiment, is any other than the mind of the individual thinking about the experiment. The Other includes the individual's own body. According to the philosopher Descartes, there is a divide intrinsic to consciousness, such that you cannot ever bridge the space between your own consciousness and that of another. This "other" is in essence theoretical, since one cannot ever be empirically shown such an "other." Put differently, Descartes concluded "cogito ergo sum", "I think, therefore I am," that is, that the presence of a self of which to speak
Cogito, ergo sum familiar form of the phrase in his 1641 "Meditations on First Philosophy". The earliest written record of the phrase in Latin is in his 1644 "Principles of Philosophy", where, in a margin note (see below), he provides a clear explanation of his intent: "[W]e cannot doubt of our existence while we doubt". Fuller forms of the phrase are attributable to other authors. The phrase first appeared (in French) in Descartes's 1637 "Discourse on the Method" in the first paragraph of its fourth part: In 1641, Descartes published (in Latin) "Meditations on first philosophy" in which he referred to the proposition,