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Self-esteem helps to advance intellectual and philosophical self-discovery.

Self-esteem, internal locus of control, and self-efficacy help to anchor a positive sense of self.

Self-belief and self-esteem help sustain an individual's ongoing trust in themselves.

René Descartes was on a quest for many years to prove the existence of the self and also of the external world. This quest eventually led Descartes to the declaration: “I think, therefore I am.”

This truth has now continually echoed through the centuries. When Descartes declared “I think, therefore I am,” he was not merely identifying the foundation of self-discovered knowledge; he was also identifying the foundation of the self. What this now also meant was that this act of self-reflective thinking and associated self‑verifying awareness proved to Descartes not only the existence of the thinker, but also that the external world existed and that the individual self-evidently existed in this external world (Judge & Bono, 2001).

Descartes first presented the “cogito” in French in 1637 as “Je pense, donc je suis.” He later expressed it in Latin in 1641 as “Cogito, ergo sum,” which was eventually translated into English as “I think, therefore I am.”

The Point of Intellectual Self-Discovery

This idea is generally seen as the starting point of intellectual self-discovery, when Western philosophy began to recognise conscious self-awareness (rather than external authority) as being the main source of knowledge. Importantly, in terms of his thinking, Descartes held a deep, sincere belief that God was the ultimate guarantor of truth. However, the cogito (the insight that the very act of thinking reveals and confirms the existence of the thinker) is still regarded as a profound world-changing shift in relation to how individuals understood knowledge, both personally, culturally, and socially.

Self-Reflection Choices and Personal Responsibility

This insight and its wider cultural and broader social influence serve as an early expression of personal responsibility, self-authorship, and the power of self-reflective thought to affirm “that I know that I exist.” From this perspective, the individual can recognise the existence of the world around them (Gallagher, 2000; Korsgaard, 1989). In this spirit, Responsibility Theory, which centres on cultivating an internal locus of control, acknowledges Descartes with the following statement: “I think, therefore I am (Descartes). I am what I think, do, say, learn,........

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