This thread "ONLY" for "education". (OK entertainment)

[Sourdough]

In as few words as possible, "HOW DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING EXISTS"....???

Example: You look out over a large valley and your eye notices something in that valley. Question: How do you know that "something" exists...??

Don't get your panties in a bunch, this is for education, entertainment, enlightenment.

Reduced to the maximum: "How do you know a thing exists"..??

Please note: everyone gets a huge trophy for participating. We do this to dumb'down humanity.

 

[zoomzoom]

As the saying goes, "Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see".

 

[elkhound]

Example: You look out over a large valley and your eye notices something in that valley. Question: How do you know that "something" exists...??

touch,feel,taste and more....religious stuff...by faith.

i seen a buck in valley so i beat feet way out in front of him cause i knew from experience where most likely he would cross at. i set up and POW...big buck down....i gutted and cleaned him and packed him out....the weight was very real on my back along with blood on my hands,knife etc. it got wrapped and put in freezer and some in canning jars....every time i opened a jar or pack it fed me and kept me alive so it did exist....inside my gut it got digested down and expelled from my person and then broke down even farther with time and now you could say that buck doesnt exist in any form now....EXCEPT as a great memory in my brain till i am no more !!!

 

[Canon29]

You dont.


this was kant's basic contention and led to the establishment of his moral metaphysics.

To expand upon thst a little you perceive things through your senses and thus gain confidence that things are real based on how compelling/consistent the evidence is that something is real. Mind you the word confidence is from the Latin "con" and "fide" which translates literally to "with faith."

Meaning you only really have faith that something is real. The importance of faith as a construct both logically and spiritually is of supreme importance.

You technically cannot prove you're not a brain in a jar somewhere having your neurons stimulated by an external source. You have faith that your not based on a wealth of experiences, but if you're truly honest- you don't know anything for certain.

 

[Patchouli]

I know some things for certain but I’m not going to the coliseum today to discuss it with the philosophers. Maybe tomorrow.

 

[UrbanHunter]

When it Bites me in the aaa

 

[Amish Heart]

I asked my husband and he said, "When it hurts, then you know it's real"

 

[Sourdough]

This is actually very simple. Shockingly simple. But it is important to keep the answer in one's awareness. Try this, if you see something, how do you identify that you see it. Forget the earlier large valley example.

 

[elkhound]

I know some things for certain but I’m not going to the coliseum today to discuss it with the philosophers. Maybe tomorrow.

always stay clear of the coliseum......theres lions there.

 

[Patchouli]

always stay clear of the coliseum......theres lions there.

sorry, the lyceum, gymnasium, or agora

 

[Pearl]

This is actually very simple. Shockingly simple. But it is important to keep the answer in one's awareness. Try this, if you see something, how do you identify that you see it. Forget the earlier large valley example.

Memory, you have seen it before!!

 

[Hardcalibres]

Old African saying:

The more I see, the more I know.......

The more I know, the better I see.

 

[UserNameTaken]

What is existence? Does any of this exist? Or are we just a computer simulation on some being's school tablet? Remember the Star Trek episode where Piccard was stuck and lived his life on a dying planet that was part of a space probe? What if we are just episode two?

 

[Amish Heart]

Ha. Maybe we are.

 

[Canon29]

I hope this thread doesn't fade away without @Sourdough giving us the simple answer he alluded to in #8. I'd like to see more discussion of this question which is in my opinion of extreme foundational importance.

 

[SoJer]

...if you see something, how do you identify that you see it..

Validation.
1) Take a Photo (phone or camera) If it's In the Photo, 'later' - it Was There. Film / Imaging Systems cannot be fooled into 'seeing' something that Physically does not Exist (even if they're only "seeing" latent Effects from the 'thing', ie: radioactive particle 'trails' in a specialized chamber, etc) Our Brains Can be fooled.

2) Ask an 'Unbiased Observer' to help Validate the existence. Unless you were Both licking the same Poison Dart Frogs / Psychoactive Mushrooms, etc Thier 'Objectivity' should be decent validation.

3) Observe / Record 'latent Effects', ie: You know (invisible) Air / Wind exists because of it's Effects (blowing something over / out of yer hand, etc)

4) 'Test', ie: "Faith" could be illustrated by getting in an Airplane - putting your very Life 'on the line' - and flying thru the Air at [fatal-fall height] which is 'a Test of faith' that Air / Wind, do indeed, "exist"

jd

 

[Sourdough]

I hope this thread doesn't fade away without @Sourdough giving us the simple answer he alluded to in #8. I'd like to see more discussion of this question which is in my opinion of extreme foundational importance.

The answer can get extremely extensive, but the short answer is a "THING" only exists relative to what is not that thing. If you have a huge wall with only one thing on the wall that is not the wall (maybe a painting or a coat) the thing only exists because of the wall. A thing (anything) only exists because of what is "NOT" that thing. If you had a pure white wall and you took a black magic marker and made a black spot on the otherwise plain white wall, the black spot only exists because of what is not the black spot......the white wall. If you put a white spot on a white wall the spot does NOT exist.

Things exist in relation to what is NOT that thing. Now, Good only exists because not good exists. War only exists because not war exists. Police only exist because criminals exist. You (who is reading this) only exist because something not you exists

You can only identify and point to a thing because of its background of not that thing. If I say see over there, across the valley next to that big tree, do you see that wolf or deer. The tree and wolf (actually the valley) only exist because not that thing exists. If you are laying on a bed, face down and the sheet is white you don't actually/truly know it is white. You need NOT-white to see white.

You only experience pain because you have experience NOT pain. It can't get more in depth, but this is good for now.

If you "crave" a specific thing in your life, as some point (when you are immersed in that thing) the craving stops because you can't grasp the thing you craved, all that exists is what you did crave, but can no longer crave it.

This is the essence of the movie "Shadowlands" (with Debra Winger) She is dying with cancer, she explains the experience of loss/pain/suffering can only exist because of joy/pleasure/ecstasy. You must embrace one to have the other.

 

[d_marsh]

I am the sole ruler of my individual universe. Everything exists if I say it exists. Nothing exists if I say it doesn't. I control it all through choice, reasoning, senses, and experience. I am capable of changing my mind, thus making things come into existence or fade outside of it as I see fit.

 

[Snowman]

 

[Snowman]

 

[OldSchool]

In as few words as possible, "HOW DO YOU KNOW SOMETHING EXISTS"....???
……
Don't get your panties in a bunch, this is for education, entertainment, enlightenment.

Reduced to the maximum: "How do you know a thing exists"..??

The rules in the title told me this was a @Sourdough thread.

To participate… and for a trophy, lol, …. You can’t know if anything is real until you step outside of the matrix.

 

[Canon29]

The answer can get extremely extensive, but the short answer is a "THING" only exists relative to what is not that thing. If you have a huge wall with only one thing on the wall that is not the wall (maybe a painting or a coat) the thing only exists because of the wall. A thing (anything) only exists because of what is "NOT" that thing. If you had a pure white wall and you took a black magic marker and made a black spot on the otherwise plain white wall, the black spot only exists because of what is not the black spot......the white wall. If you put a white spot on a white wall the spot does NOT exist.

Things exist in relation to what is NOT that thing. Now, Good only exists because not good exists. War only exists because not war exists. Police only exist because criminals exist. You (who is reading this) only exist because something not you exists

You can only identify and point to a thing because of its background of not that thing. If I say see over there, across the valley next to that big tree, do you see that wolf or deer. The tree and wolf (actually the valley) only exist because not that thing exists. If you are laying on a bed, face down and the sheet is white you don't actually/truly know it is white. You need NOT-white to see white.

You only experience pain because you have experience NOT pain. It can't get more in depth, but this is good for now.

This is called dialectics- is a type of monism called dialectic or dualistic monism...

I think it has utility- particularly in defining things, but fails to address a few complexities- such as the subjectivity of perception vs. The objectivity of reality- if such a thing exists. If it doesn't, then everything is relative and we're doomed of course.

I am the sole ruler of my individual universe. Everything exists if I say it exists. Nothing exists if I say it doesn't. I control it all through choice, reasoning, senses, and experience. I am capable of changing my mind, thus making things come into existence or fade outside of it as I see fit.

This is called solipsism- it does not have any utility

 

[sonya123]

either I have to see , touch , hear it with my very own eyes, or I will hear or read about it from some source or person I trust. If it is only based on faith it does not exist in my mind. You have to be able to prove something exists. My goats exist, I can see them, touch them, hear them, and even eat them once they are in the freezer. Viruses exist, even if I cannot see them with my eyes. They can be seen with a electron microscope . Gravity exists, because you can measure it. Some stuff might exist but nobody can prove it at this point.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_mechanics

something interesting to read if it doesn't make your head explode

 

[Canon29]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat

Worth a read...

 

[Pearl]

I am the sole ruler of my individual universe. Everything exists if I say it exists. Nothing exists if I say it doesn't. I control it all through choice, reasoning, senses, and experience. I am capable of changing my mind, thus making things come into existence or fade outside of it as I see fit.

But do YOU exist???

 

[Neb]

The answer can get extremely extensive, but the short answer is a "THING" only exists relative to what is not that thing. If you have a huge wall with only one thing on the wall that is not the wall (maybe a painting or a coat) the thing only exists because of the wall. A thing (anything) only exists because of what is "NOT" that thing. If you had a pure white wall and you took a black magic marker and made a black spot on the otherwise plain white wall, the black spot only exists because of what is not the black spot......the white wall. If you put a white spot on a white wall the spot does NOT exist.

Things exist in relation to what is NOT that thing. Now, Good only exists because not good exists. War only exists because not war exists. Police only exist because criminals exist. You (who is reading this) only exist because something not you exists

You can only identify and point to a thing because of its background of not that thing. If I say see over there, across the valley next to that big tree, do you see that wolf or deer. The tree and wolf (actually the valley) only exist because not that thing exists. If you are laying on a bed, face down and the sheet is white you don't actually/truly know it is white. You need NOT-white to see white.

You only experience pain because you have experience NOT pain. It can't get more in depth, but this is good for now.

If you "crave" a specific thing in your life, as some point (when you are immersed in that thing) the craving stops because you can't grasp the thing you craved, all that exists is what you did crave, but can no longer crave it.

This is the essence of the movie "Shadowlands" (with Debra Winger) She is dying with cancer, she explains the experience of loss/pain/suffering can only exist because of joy/pleasure/ecstasy. You must embrace one to have the other.

Hmmm

You seem to be answering the question

"How do you recognize something?"

I know magnetism exists because I can see and feel it's effect.

I know electricity exists because I can see and feel its effect.

The recognition attribute of the human mind is interesting because it reduces the amount of work our brains have to do by matching known patterns and detecting exemptions from those patterns.

My wife can walk into the kitchen and recognize there is an unauthorized object of the buffet.

Video compression borrows on the "pattern and exemptions" idea. Two frames of a hockey game video differ only by position of the puck. The background is largely the same.

So I view recognizing a thing and knowing a thing exists are different questions.

Ben

 

[DrHenley]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brain_in_a_vat

Worth a read...

Keanu Reeves made some movies about that.

 

[DrHenley]

But do YOU exist???

Cogito, ergo sum
("I think, therefore I am.")

 

[OldSchool]

If we’re getting serious: There is a thing called manifestation. I believe it can and does happen. I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s how I bought my house.

Edit: Might also be how that at one time I had the hottest biker chick in town.

I’m working on having better dreams.

Of late: I adopted a really great dog.

 

[d_marsh]

This is called solipsism- it does not have any utility

I had solipsism once. But I took some antibiotics and stayed away from women for 14 days.