Why Do We Have A Mind

Human kind is almost all certain that other physical beings have inner lives, and experience the world just as we do. Humans feel anger, happiness, excitement, have beliefs, thoughts and emotions. However, what exactly justifies this certainty? Many philosophers and skeptics would disagree to such an argument with answers that make one question whether you yourself have a mind and are a thinking thing.

Argument of other minds
P1) In order for it to be possible to know whether other people have minds, I would have to have first person access to their mental states.
P2) One can never have first person access to another person’s mental states, one can only have first person access to one’s own mental state.
C) Therefore, It’s impossible to know whether other people have minds.

A philosopher that I believe has a lot to say about an argument such as this one is Rene Descartes. Descartes was a skeptic that questioned many beliefs such as his own existence, existence of others, and the existence of God. He pushed skepticism to new heights by questioning such thoughts. Descartes would reject any idea that could be doubted to the slightest of uncertainty, for which he adopted his “method of doubt”. Descartes is prominently known for Cogito ergo sum which means “I am thinking, therefore I exist”.
Some reasons that Descartes may find this argument to be sound refers to his Mediations on First Philosophy. Whereas Descartes states that he is certain that he exists and that he is a thinking thing, however can only be certain of the existence of himself as a thinking thing. So he would say something along the lines of “I am thinking, therefore I exist” [cogito ergo sum], but how would I know others are thinking? I simply cannot know such a thing, therefore it’s impossible to know whether other people have