Expert: Maria - 2/4/2011

Question
Hi Maria,
I would like to have René Descartes' famous 'cogito ergo sum' translated to Greek please--for a subtitle to a paper, not for a tattoo. My curiosity was, however, piqued by this restriction and would be thankful to be enlighten on the topic, if you would be so kind.
Thank you,
Emily

Answer
Hello,

“Nοέω, οὖν εἰμί” ( transliterated  as “Noéō, oún eimí” ) is the ancient Greek translation of Latin “Cogito, ergo sum”( French original statement, "Je pense, donc je suis”;  English,“I think, therefore I am”),  the well-known quotation  from the French philosopher René Descartes, aka Cartesius, in his "Discourse on Method"(1637) where he attempted to prove his existence as a thinking being, by thinking.

Many centuries before, the famous Greek philosopher Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC ) had expressed the same idea in his Nicomachean Ethics, 1170a25 ff.

Best regards,
Maria
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Note that:

-COGITO ( Je pense/ I think) = Nοέω transliterated as “Noéō”

-ERGO ( donc/ therefore) = οὖν  transliterated as “oún “

-SUM (je suis/ I am ) = εἰμί transliterated as “eimí”