Subjectivism given consciousness is dependent on that consciousness. This has its philosophical basis in the writings of Descartes (see "cogito ergo sum"), and forms a cornerstone of Søren Kierkegaard's philosophy. Recently, more modest versions of metaphysical subjectivism have been explored. For example, I might hold that it is a "fact" that chocolate is tasty, even though I recognize that it is not tasty to everyone. This would imply that there are facts that are "subjective". (Analogously, one might hold that it is a fact that it is winter in the Northern Hemisphere, even though this is not always the case, implying
Cogito, ergo sum distinctiveness of self-evident propositions — to establish true and justified propositions despite having adopted a method of generalized doubt. As a consequence of this demonstration, Descartes considers science and mathematics to be justified to the extent that their proposals are established on a similarly immediate clarity, distinctiveness, and self-evidence that presents itself to the mind. The originality of Descartes's thinking, therefore, is not so much in expressing the "cogito" — a feat accomplished by other predecessors, as we shall see — but on using the "cogito" as demonstrating the most fundamental epistemological principle, that science and mathematics are justified by