In so far as we believe that, through thought, we are in direct communication with a universe of truth in which we are at one with others, in so far as Descartes' text seems merely to arouse in us thoughts already formed, and we seem never to learn anything from outside, and finally in so far as a philosopher, in a meditation purporting to be thoroughgoing, never even mentions language as the condition of the reading of the cogito, nor overtly invites us to pass from the idea to the practice of the cogito, it is because we take the process of expression for granted, because it figures among our acquisitions.