Philosophers: Do I exist?

[ozymandius]

Poll question: Philosophers: Do I exist?

My wife, a philosopher, has been trying to convince me that I do not.

[ozymandius]

1. Whatta ya mean, NO?

c'mon!

[BurtWorm]

3. If you don't exist, does that mean the undying thread is merely

an illusion?

[ozymandius]

13. A creation of a living system?

The Internet's creation, maybe? Or perhaps just a script engineered by Elad?

[joeybee12]

2. No is the obvious answer!

So there!

[Maple]

4. Er...if you have to ask.....

.

[ronzo]

5. Don't make me quote Mojo Nixon....

Feelin' Existential

<snip>

You dreamed that you were Whitman, Walt the poet, the bard
But you're really more like Slim, an evil tub of lard
Looking in the mirror and think you see James Dean
Now you turn to Dylan, you could have been him

Feeling so depressed, you're looking so distressed
And all the little girls you just want to undress
You're uglier than your high school principal
You're just feeling existential

<snip>

Too late... sorry.

[BritishHuman]

6. You post to DU...

...Therefore you're not a freeper, therefore you think, therefore you are.

Or am I putting Descartes before the horse?

[ozymandius]

8. Renee Descartes, that silly old fart -

I drink, therefore I am.

[qwertyMike]

11. Graffiti

I think therefore I am - Descartes
I am therefore I think - Sartre
Scooby-dooby-do - Sinatra

[BritishHuman]

15. I believe that should be:

To be is to do - Immanuel Kant
To do is to be - Jean-Paul Sartre
Do be do be do be do - Frank Sinatra

[WillyT]

20. Yep... That's It !!!

LOL!!!

Haven't heard that one in quite a while.

:hi:

[qwertyMike]

22. My knowledge of Philosophy SUX

But I'm reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllyyyyy gooooooooood at LIFE

[Guaranteed]

18. Hey...

Not all non-freepers think!

[BritishHuman]

23. Fair point

So just skip that step.

You post to DU, therefore you think, therefore you are.

*pops into GD for a moment*

Okay, you post to DU in the Lounge, therefore you think, therefore you are.

There.

[kodi]

7. in her world maybe your don't. contact a good divorce lawyer.

.

[Renew Deal]

9. If she doesn't exist, can you find some action on the side?

If the mistress doesn't exist, does it really happen? I will try this one out with my girlfriend.

[DuctapeFatwa]

10. This question assumes that the concept of existence is valid

Not a reasonable assumption when the only thing you are basing it on are the sensory perceptions of one species on one planet.

[ozymandius]

19. Even your perceptions are filtered through an electro-chemical maze.

Is anyone's existence actually validated, to any extent through cognitive interaction with perceived others, through that frail mechanical process of sensory perception?

[DuctapeFatwa]

26. Exactly. and it is a carbon-based universe at that!

for all we know, a carbon-based universe may be nothing but a homologue to those grade school exercises where they have you do all the problems on page 23 in base 7.

[ozymandius]

31. However on the most basic elemental level...

all substances are only made of energy. There are spheres inside spheres of energy, only energy. So when we are nothing but a collection of energy spheres that attract each other and resonate at a certain frequency, where do they cease to exist and where do we, as individuals, begin to exist - if we do exist at all?

[DuctapeFatwa]

35. Yes, mitochondria may be the closest you can come to infinity

as inside the mitochondria are smaller particles and on and on, certainly beyond the present limits of microscopy, and as with atoms, we may assume, to infinity, if only for the sake of argument.

So, it is not illogical to assume that it also goes the other way, and our entire universe is, to some entity, nothing but a microbe on the dirty toe of a dustmite.

Throw in a sprinkle of matter and energy never created and destroyed, accept it, again for the sake of argument, and before you know it you are sitting in a dim room with a couple of Jesuits, an Imam or 2, a rail thin saddhu and a relay chess team from the local rabbinical institute, surrounded by empty burgundy bottles, arguing loudly about theology, wondering where your shoes are and why the Sikhs were laughing so hard at you when they left.

That's what these kinds of questions can lead to. Beware. India has vineyards now.

[Guaranteed]

21. Sure it is...

...for how can I doubt my existence without existing beforehand?

[DuctapeFatwa]

25. Because what you are doubting is not your existence

but the significance of your perceptions.

Think of it in mathematical terms.

If you can't comprehend either infinity or the nature of One, how can numbers have any real meaning?

[qwertyMike]

12. You are electrons on my screen

You cease to exist when I pull the plug.



So do I


Lady Di

[leftyandproud]

14. I post...

therefore I am.

[Guaranteed]

16. I can't tell, man.

All I know about is ME.

[paradisiac]

17. would you please define

"exist".
:)

[On the Road]

24. If you were a real philosopher,

you would ask what the meaning of "exist" is. :smoke:

I know. My ex had a PhD in Phil.

[ozymandius]

33. Very cool.

Just like one philosophy teacher in college asked, "Is murder wrong?"

That really got the capital punishment fans really charged up.

[soupkitchen]

27. It's like having fun, if you stop to ask yourself if you exist

You've stopped existing and begun exiting.

[TrogL]

28. There is no such thing as reality

Matter is an illusion. With no matter, space is irrelevant. Synchronicity breaks the concept of time.

There is only perception.

[geniph]

29. All is maya, all is maya

leave it behind!

[Bake]

30. The more important question:

DOES IT MATTER?

Think on that one for a while ...

Bake

[leftofthedial]

32. I don't know. What do you think?

nt

[baldguy]

34. Ergo Cogito Sum

I *KNOW* I exist, but all you other "people" are just figments the the creators' imagination.