User blog:Lord Mactalon/Essay: I AM.

Welcome to philosophy 101. Didn't know falcons could write about philosophy? Think again. ;)

The phrase "I am that is", is partially illogical, but clearly conveys some deeper meaning besides merely being jumbled letters of the name Matthias. Though the words themselves form no coherent phrase, it contains two identities which appear to hold valuable insights.

First: "I am." You may have heard the famous phrase: "I think, therefore I am.". First laid out by the philosopher Descartes, this statement is among the more profound ever to be placed into print. Why? It's because all else follows, once one accepts the statement: "I am." For those of you who have yet to study epistemology (I haven't studied it formally either), one of, if not the most basic question in philosophy is: "What can we know?". This may seem a strange question to ask-- and it is. Until you think back to the last nightmare you had. That sure seemed real. Yet, it wasn't; or maybe your nightmare was real and you actually are inside of a dream as you read this blog post. Thus the question: "What can we know?". But once you accept that you exist (and not merely as a figment of your imagination inside of a dream), you can begin to reason off of your perceptions, rejecting those observations that do not hold to your conception of the world and accepting those that do. For instance, if I told you that I fought a grizzly bear this morning, you may or may not believe me, until I tell you that I live in Alaska and work in the woods (I don't, by the way). Thus, once you accept that you can think/reason, and if you accept that this reality you perceive is indeed "reality", you may begin to act.

In the same way, Matthias was a bumbling mouse until he realized who he was and what the reality of his situation was-- he was a mouse that tripped over his own paws until he defined who he was, and was able to state "I am". He defined himself, with the help of Martin and Methuselah, as a hero called to save Redwall (this implies that we may define ourselves as anything and become whatever the object of our definition, which is true; to an extent).

Second: "that is". This is a natural corollary to the statement "I am". In order to state "I am", I must naturally accept that I exist, which is what "that is" implies. Furthermore, this property of existence implies also that an object may affect other things. I'm sitting on a couch right now. It exists. As such, it exerts an influence over me-- pushing me up, against gravity. My rabbit outside-- he exists, and because of that, can cuddle up to me. My rabbit affects my actions (I have to feed him, water him, etc.). This can be seen on a personal philosophical level in Redwall. Matthias only acted when he recognized that he was needed-- that he could have a very real influence on the outcome of the story. Before this recognizance, as he mentioned in one of his discussions with the Abbot, he was powerless.

For anyone who's thought about this before: this is all very basic thinking that is probably partially incorrect. I'm probably referencing Jacques phrase in a different light than he intended (though it is possible that it may be partially attributed to Descartes) However, I did want to explore, at least to some extent, the impact and importance of the statement "I AM THAT IS.".