The Deep Thoughts of a Brown Bear
A remarkably short commentary on René Descartes‘ profound thought.
I think therefore I am.
René Descartes
Some people hardly think at all. Does that mean they doesn’t exist?
Brown Bear
What do you think of Descartes’ profound thought?
People have different ideas about what truth is. Today, I am going to talk about some of those ideas and what I think about them.
When I look at a tree, I get a picture in my head of a tree. When I look at flowers, I get a picture in my head of flowers. When I look at Sheepie, I get a picture in my head of a silly old sheep who is very annoying.
Most people think that there is a world outside our heads, and our senses tell us things about that world. Our senses help us build a picture in our heads about what the world is like.
For example, when I look out of the bedroom window, my senses tell me that I can see a tree. In my head, I get a picture of a tree with green leaves and brown branches. It is tall, and moves about when my senses tell me that the wind is blowing. I have watched the tree in Summer and Winter, so I have different pictures in my head that tell me how it changes at different times of the year. To me, it is a very friendly tree, and the pictures in my head are nice pictures (but not as good as the pictures of trees that JB can draw).
The picture of the tree that I have in my head is different from the picture that Fun Giraffe has. Fun Giraffe is often busy doing “Bouncing Around” during the day, but at night he likes to rest, and to look outside.
Because he mostly looks outside at it at night, the pictures of the tree in Fun Giraffe’s head are mostly in black and white. He says that the tree makes “gloomy shapes”. He says that it makes “friendly shadows against the sky”, and that he likes the way the moon shines through its branches. He listens to the sound of the wind in the leaves of the tree, and he says that it sounds like a crowd of people whispering. When it is stormy, he says that the tree is lots of people clapping because they like the wind and the rain.
But that is not my picture; it is Fun Giraffe’s picture.
The things that Fun Giraffe likes about the tree – it’s dark colours, its happy sounds – are not things that I had even noticed. The things that I like about the tree are things that he has never seen.
So, today I have been wondering: which of us has a true picture of the tree? Is it me? Is it Fun Giraffe? Or is it neither of us?
And, now I have told you about the tree, you have a picture in your head too. Is your picture true? Is it more true than mine?
If you have any ideas about this, please let me know.