Bigthink - Idea Comments Feed

Comment on: Re: Prove your own existence.

Bigthink — Fri, 30 May 2008 19:41:12 +0100

Oh this old chestnut that people have been driving themselves crazy with for centuries!
Descartes' enterprise to achieve certainty was misconceived. He incorrectly assumed that epistemology's task is to provide individuals with a way of knowing from their own subjective viewpoints, that they are in possession of knowledge and not error. You can't reason from the private data of individual consciousness outward to knowledge of what lies beyond.
Looney solipsists like Shirley MacLaine have actually convinced themselves that they create all reality and that they are in fact God. Next time someone tells you that you create your own reality ask them back: did I create you saying that or did you?

Comment on: Re: Prove your own existence.

Bigthink — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 21:16:04 +0100

I think, therefore I am. The problem then is whether things outside of me exist. As Descartes would say, without knowledge of a benevolent God, one would always have to concede that there could be someone out there deceiving me, but this entity could never deceive me from knowing that I exist. So, he arrives at his rule of truth: whatever I clearly and distinctly perceive is true. With this, I guess you could posit things existing outside of you. But then there's always Berkeley, who would say unthinking things only exist when perceived.

Comment on: Re: Prove your own existence.

Bigthink — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 18:08:16 +0100

You exist as something because you have a mind/brain. You exist, at least to yourself, because you are thinking, "I exist because I am standing here, saying so." The problem is: you may not be standing. Your brain may just be giving you the illusion of standing. And where is "here"? Are you really where you think you are? Or could your brain just be showing you that picture plus the related sensations?