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2023-11: Warosu is now out of extended maintenance.

/sci/ - Science & Math

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Anonymous Sat Jan 22 00:50:34 2011 No.2391333 [Reply] [Original]

I don't understand how things exist. What does it mean?
How do numbers exist? Trees? Dreams? The past? the future? Are there different ways to exist?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 00:51:34 2011 No.2391337 File: 47 KB, 560x385, possum.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2391333 >mfw philosophy question on /sci/

>>	Interstellar !!G2WJSG0QDaN Sat Jan 22 00:53:34 2011 No.2391346 >>2391333 how do you know that they exist? we could all be brains in vats in a big empty floating nothingness

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 00:54:34 2011 No.2391359 GTFO

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 00:54:34 2011 No.2391351 All existence is only a byproduct of the individual's perception. In effect I have no way to know you exist. The same would be true of you. If you were real.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 00:55:34 2011 No.2391361 >>2391351 Im not saying how do we know this or that exists im saying, WTF does it mean to exist?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 00:57:34 2011 No.2391369 >>2391361 It means you can ask retarded questions like this and people might actually take it seriously.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 00:58:34 2011 No.2391375 >hurp derp metaphysics Define existence to be something and be done with it.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:00:34 2011 No.2391385 In the deepest sense, no one understands how things exist. To answer your question on a basic level though, we exist because conditions arose to make it so.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:03:34 2011 No.2391393 >>2391351 I'd highly suggest looking into the concept of qualia if it interests you. It's not science though.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:04:34 2011 No.2391394 >>2391333 scientists aren't equipped to approach this question, you need to ask a philosopher. too bad Kant died 200 years ago.

Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:05:34 2011 No.2391402

When I was a child I thought often of the possibility that each of us has our own way of interpreting our surroundings. It still bothers me; because if each person did see their own version of reality, the actions of anyone else would match up in their world, so we would all be none the wiser.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:05:34 2011 No.2391401 we exist regardless, so it doesn't matter. (or it isn't matter, or it only appears to be matter, or...)

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:07:34 2011 No.2391406 its kind of meaningless to ask these questions since you exist already

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:07:34 2011 No.2391407 File: 26 KB, 295x445, rogood.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] >>2391333 Op queastion hurt muh brain

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:08:34 2011 No.2391408 >>2391394 Immanuel Kant supported Christianity and denied the idea of Christendom. His philosophy regarded an individual's experience as it relates to the Christian god.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:08:34 2011 No.2391409 The background of this board is what we as a collective refer to as a shade of blue, right? Who's to say that in my personal perception, my understanding of blue is your understanding of green? I'm not talking about being colour blind either.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:09:34 2011 No.2391411 >>2391408 he also destroyed any meaningful argument for the existence of god so he didnt afraid anything and was cool guys

Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:13:34 2011 No.2391426

>>2391411

He didn't destroy the argument, he just pointed out that they were invalid, especially as it comes to his philosophy of personal experience. Immanuel Kant didn't turn the argument against Christians; he was for them.

Nietzsche and Co. would be the ones to bring existentialism to bear against Christianity.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:13:34 2011 No.2391427 >>2391409 Because we can measure the processing of the visual data that goes from the retina to the occipital lobe and compare them.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:14:34 2011 No.2391433 >>2391426 ya but Kant was at least 3x smarter than Nietzsche.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:16:34 2011 No.2391442 >>2391409 in this case we'll let biology decide how long both of us can last in society due to our differing perception of the color blue

Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:16:34 2011 No.2391441

>>2391427

This. The cells in the eyes have similar ratios of cones to rods in pretty much every human being. Brainwaves could probably also be analyzed to prove it.

In any case, here's some food for thought
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qualia#Definitions
It's philosophy, so be warned.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:18:34 2011 No.2391448 >>2391433 I agree.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:19:34 2011 No.2391450 >>2391441 But then you remembered that we cannot advance our knowledge past solipsism.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:21:34 2011 No.2391458 >>2391450 i just proved you wrong

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:21:34 2011 No.2391461 >>2391450 Yeah... Rene Descartes' argument kind of fell off from there. Let's just say that I'm pretty sure that you and I exist, and otherwise, who cares?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:24:34 2011 No.2391469 >>2391458 No you didn't because in the universe I create in my mind all the laws of physics and biology still hold true. Don't be mad though. All we need to do is define experience to be existence.

Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:25:34 2011 No.2391472

>>2391450

Becuse herpa derp absolute certainty. Descartes did some great things with math but his meditations were ridiculous. Math, for example, works because we have defined what the basics mean and how they apply to certain objects we perceive to exist. Sure, when we say "two apples" we might be wrong and there are three, but the abstraction of the idea of two is completely reasonable. Whenever I have to deal with this question I argue essentially that it is worthwhile to, on the grounds of pragmatism, assume these abstractions to have application where they have been inductively successful, with the knowledge that there is some error.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:33:34 2011 No.2391501 >>2391469 do you pay your bills then?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:33:34 2011 No.2391504 >>2391472 Pragmatism has nothing to do with truth. Truth is a property of the propositions that mirrors an existing state of affairs. We cannot know the truth of a proposition unless we are able to compare it to reality.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:35:34 2011 No.2391508 >>2391501 In my universe all bills must be paid or consequences will never be the same.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:36:34 2011 No.2391514 >>2391504 Yes, but in consideration of strong-arm skepticism I consider it better to take action based on uncertainty, in most cases a function of probability, rather than to remain idle.

Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:38:34 2011 No.2391523

Existence is subjective. The concept of "you" or "I" is only an illusion created by your subjective conciousness when in reality we are simply a sentient form of matter. We are only this way for a brief time. We are the universe experiencing itself. You are but a raindrop in the vast hydrological cycle of matter and energy.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:49:34 2011 No.2391554 >>2391514 I don't mean to say anything moral with my skepticism.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:55:34 2011 No.2391576 File: 47 KB, 688x473, armydk72.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google] HOW DO THOSE TRIPLES EXIST!?

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:58:12 2011 No.2391581 The chance is 1 in 1000. Not that rare, given the number of threads.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 01:59:34 2011 No.2391586 >>2391576 The chance is 1 in 100 that a given post will be triples. Even better, if you shoot for it by timing posts. It isn't rare or special, given how many threads are posted.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 02:08:34 2011 No.2391607 Existence is a function of being able to interact with other things.

Anonymous Sat Jan 22 02:19:34 2011 No.2391644
File: 57 KB, 600x353, seraphwertew.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]

>>2391333
>>2391333
>>2391333

There's only one fundamental to all your question and to the universe.

1. Emptiness is a prerequisite for "form".

That's the simplest and most basic answer as to why anything exists.

>inb4 retards

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 02:23:34 2011 No.2391649 >>2391644 you could have just said "magic" dipshit.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 02:27:34 2011 No.2391658 >>2391644 Go away Sartre.

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 08:26:34 2011 No.2392683 I love you OP, if you want the answer I'd recommend you learn to read and comprehend at a college level

>>	Anonymous Sat Jan 22 08:43:34 2011 No.2392730 Those living in the UK, or Americans with access to proxy servers, I highly recommend watching the following on iPlayer: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00xxgbn/Horizon_20102011_What_Is_Reality/ Fantastic documentary.

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