All Questions
Tagged with epistemology existence
39
questions
15
votes
15
answers
2k
views
Can we know that something exists even if we can't explain or define it?
Can a person know that something like "free will" must exist even though an exact definition in words, using language, cannot be provided, and in the absence of a complete theory that ...
user66156
3
votes
6
answers
627
views
What's the least amount of things that can possibly exist?
Suppose there only ever existed one indecomposable, irreducible object.
What could distinguish it from nothingness? From not existing, as there is nothing besides it that could deduce its information?
...
- 213
4
votes
3
answers
882
views
Does 'cogito ergo sum' actually establish the existence of an objective truth/reality?
Before I start describing my questions, I would like to draw some background on my understanding and knowledge of Descartes' ontological(metaphysical) views regarding the cogito and philosophy in ...
- 1,435
5
votes
4
answers
168
views
If we keep asking "why" are we guaranteed to end up in one of the three states of the Münchhausen Trilemma?
Could you please explain your reasoning. I thought the whole point of this trilemma was that you can't know anything for certain, yet they propose with certainty that you end up in one of these states,...
- 483
2
votes
2
answers
118
views
Can only one object exist?
Suppose so, then: What exactly can distinguish it from not existing, if the object itself is all there is?
Any object trivially maps to itself via identity, so in order to deviate from the trivial ...
- 121
-1
votes
1
answer
100
views
Does the universe have an ultimate purpose? [closed]
Objective purpose is an alternative? Universal, fundamental purpose?
- 2,341
4
votes
1
answer
127
views
Can we know that we are breathing analytically/a priori?
P1: I exist (perhaps from the cogito, or just some intuition) as a human being
P2: Human beings must respirate to exist
C1: I am respirating
Surely C1 is synthetic? Or, at least, something that we ...
- 321
0
votes
2
answers
168
views
Has any philosophy in history coherently disambiguated the state of being “real” from being “existent”? Such that it’s broadly applicable to thoughts?
I suspect that things which simply exist are not bound by limits and are hence unlimited. According to economic thinking, real things are those which are scarce or limited by constraints of physical ...
- 47
6
votes
2
answers
147
views
Does Kant implicitly commit the paralogism of pure reason when saying that to have a representation it is necessary to accompany it with 'I think'?
In Caygill's Kant Dictionary entry of 'I Think' there is this part:
Kant further claims that 'I think' is the necessary vehicle/form/accompaniment of experience: to have a representation it is ...
- 613
0
votes
2
answers
106
views
Can truth exist even though nothing happens?
There’s magnet. If the magnet didn’t attract the other magnet and then disappeared, in this case can “the magnet attracts the other magnet” never be true?
- 3
3
votes
3
answers
335
views
Is "thoughts exist" a synthetic a priori statement?
I'm working off of Kant's conception of analytic/synthetic and a prior/a posteriori judgements.
The definition of "thoughts" does not subsume their existence. That is, it is logically ...
- 387
1
vote
1
answer
106
views
What is it about the existence of some things that makes us right or wrong in describing their existence, while other things can change?
For example, if people used to believe the Earth was the center of the universe, and we discover it is not, we now say, "people used to falsely believe that the Earth was the center of the universe", ...
- 49
1
vote
4
answers
997
views
Is there another state besides existence and nonexistence?
Today I told someone who said that there is no objective truth the next thing: "For example, we, as humans, cannot know if God exists or he does not but we can know for sure that one of these two ...
1
vote
1
answer
738
views
What if the Evil Genius in Descartes' "I think therefore I am" put into our minds the action of doubting?
I am briefly aware of Descartes' argument that even if an Evil Genius made us believe that the world is real the fact that we can doubt this shows that we are thinking and that through thought we can ...
4
votes
1
answer
419
views
Does Valberg's "personal horizon" entail life after death?
The personal horizon is, Valberg contends, the subject matter whose
center each of us occupies, and which for each of us ceases with
death. This ceasing to be presents itself solipsistically not ...
- 2,483