YOU THINK, THEREFORE I AM

About the Book

You Think, Therefore I Am-is a thoroughly original and profound reflection on the main philosophical questions that have been around for the last 2500 years. In a short essay, that can be read through in a lunch break, the author goes back to Descartes to affirm that existence starts, indeed, with the consciousness of thinking, the famous cogito ergo sum, but that our thinking depends on belonging to a thinking species and acquiring, through learning, the instruments of thought. The title of this essay-You think, therefore I am (cogitatis, ergo sum)-reflects that principle. The author's vision of the world is summarized in the last paragraph of this essay:

I am a thinking being, of the species Homo Sapiens Sapiens, with free will to decide upon my future, in God, with inalienable rights to life, liberty, propriety and the pursuit of happiness and with my personal vision of the world. Finally Dr. Couto challenges the reader to develop their own vision of the world, by writing down their thoughts to the very some questions that are addressed in this essay.

About the Author

Joaquim Couto was born in 1951 in Porto, Portugal. He completed his medical degree at the University of Lisbon in 1977 and pursued further training at the Brooklyn Jewish and Medical Center, in New York. In 1987 Dr. Couto become a Diplomat of the American Board of Surgery. He has been practicing his craft in his native town, Porto, since then. Joaquim Couto has published three books. Medicina Ilegal (2001)?a critique of collectivism in healthcare, The American Dream and the European Nightmare (2003)?about the lack of vision of the EU political project and Meditações (2004)?A philosophical essay. Joaquim Couto also holds a MBA from Edinburgh Business School. His main interests are Medicine, Politics and Philosophy.