Are Any of "You" Real?

[Chaerophon]

That was basically my point of reference with the 'extended' crack. Descartes famously contended that we could be certain of the position of objects in space and time, (i.e. their 'extension') but not of their other characteristics, e.g. texture, colour, etc. Many Cartesians have not been so confident as was Descartes that we can know anything outside of the fact of our individual existence "as a thinking thing." Cogito ergo sum, I think therefore I am. I'm sure that you've heard it many times before. Essentially, Descartes' rationalist account started the debate of 17th - 19th century metaphysics by contending that the mind and body were two separate entities, with the mind (as opposed to the brain) being 'immaterial'.