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Prove you exist

wolfman24 said:
i am going to try something and I hope the mods won't get all bend out of shape since this is actually a practical exercise in general philosophy classes in many colleges.

i got the idea from a comment yesterday night on the news. The person being interviewed said that our society no longer views facts as absolute and unchanging.

We all take ourselves are obvious facts. But are we from a philosophical standpoint.

In my senior year in college one of the guys in the house I was in was a philosophy major and he taught me how to do this.

Heres the deal. There are actually only three ways you can seemingly prove you exist. If you get one right you will see a +1 in my response. If not nothing.

Remember this is an exercise in philosophy and can get frustrating.

Anyone game? Prove you exist.
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I'm not sure I understand. Are we supposed to guess the three reasons your Bro gave you? Why not just tell us and then we can discuss them?
 
spanky said:
I'm not sure I understand. Are we supposed to guess the three reasons your Bro gave you? Why not just tell us and then we can discuss them?
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My idea was to have people guess and once someone got them right like Lizzie we could discuss them. MY point is stated in the opening of my OP.

I heard someone on the news say that facts are no longer seem as facts. That is hard, unchanging, not subject to interrepation and I thought this would help find out if its true.
 
wolfman24 said:
My idea was to have people guess and once someone got them right like Lizzie we could discuss them. MY point is stated in the opening of my OP.

I heard someone on the news say that facts are no longer seem as facts. That is hard, unchanging, not subject to interrepation and I thought this would help find out if its true.
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I read your post and know what it was you wanted others to do, but if the end result is someone guesses then you discuss why not just skip step one and save everyone from the bug hunt?

FWIW I do find the question interesting but let's skip the Horshack routine.
 
You live almost exclusively in your mind but you exist in this world thru your body and mind. It's a difficult thing to grasp but there really is no such thing as me, I and them, there is only we and us. Because everyone is connected by a chain of procreation, shared DNA, imprinted instincts of ancestral origin and interaction. We are individuals that form families and groups, connected as a species that works towards survival and progression.
 
grip said:
You live almost exclusively in your mind but you exist in this world thru your body and mind. It's a difficult thing to grasp but there really is no such thing as me, I and them, there is only we and us. Because everyone is connected by a chain of procreation, shared DNA, imprinted instincts of ancestral origin and interaction. We are individuals that form families and groups, connected as a species that works towards survival and progression.
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This is not one of the concepts but if I understand it correctly +1
 
wolfman24 said:
i am going to try something and I hope the mods won't get all bend out of shape since this is actually a practical exercise in general philosophy classes in many colleges.

i got the idea from a comment yesterday night on the news. The person being interviewed said that our society no longer views facts as absolute and unchanging.

We all take ourselves are obvious facts. But are we from a philosophical standpoint.

In my senior year in college one of the guys in the house I was in was a philosophy major and he taught me how to do this.

Heres the deal. There are actually only three ways you can seemingly prove you exist. If you get one right you will see a +1 in my response. If not nothing.

Remember this is an exercise in philosophy and can get frustrating.

Anyone game? Prove you exist.
Click to expand...

Well, my dog is alive because I feed him, therefore I exist.
 
UtahBill said:
I post, therefore I is....
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That's one. "I think therefore I am."

However, is the OP asking a "Matrix" type question, that reality might be all an illusion? Even if so, that illusion is an existence of itself.
 
One of the best answers I heard of to a law enforcement officer was when he told someone "you can't be hunting here, it's a restricted area."

The person replied, "Hmmm, you raise a challenging ontological question of existence being that, in fact, I am hunting here."

The officer thought that about the best response he'd ever heard, so just laughed and told him "get the f/ck out of here before I write you a ticket and then we both find out if its real."
 
There is a judge I know does something similar while setting bond for people in jail.

Sometimes a person will say something like "you just can't keep me in jail like this."

The judge's response is well known at the jail. "You might be right. Hard to say. There are all sorts of technicalities and all that. Let's find out." Then says to one of the deputy guards," there is a question of whether I can keep this person in jail. Take him back to his cell and let's find out."

So far, it has always been that judge can hold the person in jail, but who knows, some day that might turn out to be wrong. :lol:


Like a person who says to a cop "you can't write me a ticket..."
 
joko104 said:
That's one. "I think therefore I am."

However, is the OP asking a "Matrix" type question, that reality might be all an illusion? Even if so, that illusion is an existence of itself.
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Ok Good question and very good answer. When dealing with theorical philosophy every question is a matrix question.
 
Ok I think it is time for a clue. We have pretty much exhausted the "inner person" concept. Now try a physical argument or a spiritual one.
 
wolfman24 said:
Ok I think it is time for a clue. We have pretty much exhausted the "inner person" concept. Now try a physical argument or a spiritual one.
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LOL - spirituality?

"I believe I exist therefor I do - like a dove and an olive branch in the hot midsummer on Mt Olympus"
 
Aunt Spiker said:
LOL - spirituality?

"I believe I exist therefor I do - like a dove and an olive branch in the hot midsummer on Mt Olympus"
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Well not quite that far. Actually this was one of the argument the philosophy student told me was "acceptable". I thought it was short but what do I know.
 
wolfman24 said:
Well not quite that far. Actually this was one of the argument the philosophy student told me was "acceptable". I thought it was short but what do I know.
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LOL

well now I'm not so sure that Mt Olympus has a midsummer . . . isn't it always snow capped? where is it anyway - Greece?

If I was an ethereal entity I'd know this ****.
 
Aunt Spiker said:
LOL

well now I'm not so sure that Mt Olympus has a midsummer . . . isn't it always snow capped? where is it anyway - Greece?

If I was an ethereal entity I'd know this ****.
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Yes Greece and it is real from what I understand. Not the god thing but the mt.
 
roflpublican said:
what if you only think you think you're asking the question because someone else is thinking you think you think you're asking the question? :confused:
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Well down here at the Stand Up Philosophers Academy, we'd call that "overthinking". :)
 
grip said:
You live almost exclusively in your mind but you exist in this world thru your body and mind. It's a difficult thing to grasp but there really is no such thing as me, I and them, there is only we and us. Because everyone is connected by a chain of procreation, shared DNA, imprinted instincts of ancestral origin and interaction. We are individuals that form families and groups, connected as a species that works towards survival and progression.
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There is the individual, though. If there were not, a man alone in the wilderness could not survive. We are interconnected, but we are also alone. Granted, chances for survival are increased via community in some instances, but not in all. If a healthy sane man were on a desert island with a large group of unhealthy humans, his chances of survival would be much better than the others, unless he willingly sacrificed himself for them, or they, through strength of numbers, were to overcome and kill him, either through brute force, or by forced negligence.
 
lizzie said:
There is the individual, though. If there were not, a man alone in the wilderness could not survive. We are interconnected, but we are also alone. Granted, chances for survival are increased via community in some instances, but not in all. If a healthy sane man were on a desert island with a large group of unhealthy humans, his chances of survival would be much better than the others, unless he willingly sacrificed himself for them, or they, through strength of numbers, were to overcome and kill him, either through brute force, or by forced negligence.
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Boy you are good. This is almost correct. the wilderness or separate/community conccept is the key. VERY GOOD
 
lizzie said:
There is the individual, though. If there were not, a man alone in the wilderness could not survive. We are interconnected, but we are also alone. Granted, chances for survival are increased via community in some instances, but not in all. If a healthy sane man were on a desert island with a large group of unhealthy humans, his chances of survival would be much better than the others, unless he willingly sacrificed himself for them, or they, through strength of numbers, were to overcome and kill him, either through brute force, or by forced negligence.
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The feeling of solitude comes from mental isolation or detachment from surroundings. Though it's true we're single agents there is no need to struggle against the sense of self. We merely need to accept that we're a focal point for reality, not the whole of it. If one cannot appreciate their own existence they will certainly not care about others.
 
Jerry said:
No.


...................
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That's the funniest and shortest proof yet. Nothing proves a positive more emphatically than a force of resistance.
 
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