Use your imagination
Existance....
This as been coming up in my thoughts very much recently, and I was wondering what people here though about it. I didn't know where this would be appropriate, seeing as this is a philosophical question, I'll just post it here. So, here we go.
If you can't prove something exists, but you can't prove that something doesn't exist, does it exist?
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well isnt some one feeling philosophical today.
I suppose I would say it exists because there is no way of disproving it, or at least until there is a way to disprove its existence (its too early in the morning for heavy thinking)
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The most logical conclusion is that it doesn't exist. It can be pointed out that logic is no guarantee of truth, however it does indicate what is most likely to be true given the facts at hand. In other words, if there is not a shred of evidence for the existence of something, it is far more likely that it doesn't exist.Originally Posted by therussian
Or, to put it another way, if you think that everything which can't be disproven exists, then you literally create an infinite number of phenomena, all of which you must take seriously. Such as the flying spaghetti monster that I've mentioned before in threads about evolution vs creationism. This would absolutely paralyze you, because you can't step out the door of your house for fear of the flying spaghetti monster.
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So you believe that there is an equal probability of every conceivable idea being true or false? How do you function in life then? Don't you worry that you shouldn't use the toilet because the Toilet Snake might come flying out and kill you?
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Precisely, so despite what you say, you do not refrain from making a conclusion on the existence of things without evidence. You, like every other rational human being, dismiss the existence of innumerable phenomena based on the simple rationale that there's no evidence for them. The only question is whether people create a "blind spot" for themselves in the application of this principle (formally known as the principle of parsimony in logic) when it comes to religious entities.
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Last edited by Kino; January 17, 2007 at 04:31 AM.
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"The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved they are Jesus in disguise." - Mother Teresa
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You're missing the point; you have still made a conclusion. If it were real, you would definitely worry about it. So you have concluded that the Toilet Monster is not real. The fact that you stand up and declare that you won't rule out the possibility does not change the fact that you have made a conclusion anyway.
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Wong, agreed.
Just because you can't DISPROVE the existence of something doesn't mean it exists; however, science sometimes needs to devise an explanation for newly-observed phenomena so it can have something to test. The problem surfaces when people jump into this process, steal the hypothesis out of context, then tout it's existence as a fact. Sometimes this happens because people will sometimes take an unproven explanation over none.
What I find interesting too is what exactly constitutes "evidence." Who decides what the evidence of existence is and does it need to be universally accepted (e.g., by a majority) before the thing is proven? What indeed is the very nature of "existence?"
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Last edited by Kino; January 17, 2007 at 04:31 AM.
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Now you're getting it. Saying you don't rule it out does not mean you take it seriously.
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Last edited by Kino; January 17, 2007 at 04:31 AM.
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if it clears anything up, you dont even exist, so get over it.
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While we are on the subject of existance, I was wondering last night, "I think therefore I am" so, when I'm sleeping, I don't exist? If I get in a comma, I don't exist?
I was thinking about this early in the morning today. Like at 5Am... And I thought, "that can't be right, for; in the morning is when your mind is clear, and hence you can think about philosophy more clearly in the morning."
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That's Ffips backwards
lol now thats a good point now i think about it, depends what you mean by 'think' though, i suppose that any function of a living brain still meets the criteria. Just because you dont think doesnt meen you dont exist, it just means that according to that theory, there is no actual proof that you do
When a person is asleep he is still thinking. In his dreams the persons makes desicions. However a person does not always dream so is not always thinking. The same goes for a coma. Not all people in a coma experience it as a dream so not all people are thinking. I think the saying "I think therefore I am" is wrong.
Excisting is simply excisting. One can not know for sure if he does excists. It could be all a dream for all he knows. Now I come to point I remember about dreaming. How can one know if he is dreaming or not. Very simple: pinch urself. Pain does not excist in dreams. Therefore I think that it is pain which makes us know that we excist.
Any suggestions?
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Exactly! This is precisely what most theists fail to see. Once they believe in god without any evidence, and claim he still exists, they MUST believe in everything with the same standard of proof. Meaning that any phenomena (as Darth put it) which has been claimed by a human to exist, they MUST believe in it, with absolute faith. You can't have a double standard.
So, either you believe in god, and Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Dragons, Leprechauns, etc. or you don't and you don't believe in god. If you have a double standard for this, it invalidates your theism.
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Why? You dont have faith in something becuase you believe it to be true. You believe it to be true becuase you have faith in it...Exactly! This is precisely what most theists fail to see. Once they believe in god without any evidence, and claim he still exists, they MUST believe in everything with the same standard of proof.
no, like I said this logic is very flawed. Your basically saying people believe in their religion just becuase they heard it before. They heard it so it must be true... NO. thats why people have faith journeys. You dont think believers doubt their faith on occasion. One must search in your soul for the answers..If you have a double standard for this, it invalidates your theism.
Anytime I draw away from God, I am brought back. You say its just imagination. I say its Gods love. We both have beliefs that actually have no evidence. Your evidence is simply that I have no evidence. The whole concept of God cant ever be proven/disproven by an argument, so it is pointless to try. It is a circular debate(plus off-topic)
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You're missing the point completely. You say that you believe because you have faith, but why do you have faith? You must have some basis for the feeling that you call faith, you weren't just born with it. You must have decided sometime that you believed, and there must've been a reason for this, or else your faith is what's flawed here. You have to examine why you believe (or "have faith") and realize that the same thing can be applied to each and every one of the things that I listed, and countless others.
If you say that you believe simply because you "have faith," you are either flat out lying, or you don't really believe in it. You have to have a reason for having faith, or it's absolutely superficial.
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