How do you know that you are you?

Question

What makes you so sure? What evidence do you have? How do you know everything really exists? What is existance anyway?...

Answer 1

A to Q1: I know that I am -somebody-, and that I have been this somebody for a long time. This has been confirmed by relatives, friends, etc., people I trust.

A to Q2: See answer to first part of your question.

A to Q3: There is no way to know, because regardless of the nature of reality, _everything_ is percieved from inside our heads. And that 'everything' is not very much, since our senses and memories are not 100% reliable. My inexpert opinion: most of what we think of as reality is just constructed in our heads. Fortunately, it's close enough to allow us to survive and reach the top of the food chain. :-)

A to Q4: IMO, existence is the sum total of everything we can sense and--with our limited awareness--solidly confirm as "real."

Answer 2

Okay
a) I don't
b) I'm not.
c) None that I'm certain can't be falsified.
e) I don't
f) A beauuuuuuuuuuutiful dream....


I see this man everyday. I work in the high street twenty mins from my house, and every day I see this man somewhere between work and home. This may seem reasonable, because he may indeed be a neighbour of mine, and I just haven't realised. But why is the man ALWAYS out when I am, no matter what time of day? I've started to notice him all the time, sometimes other places too. In my head I call him "scenery". I started thinking maybe he's part of my reality, I'm part of his, or it's a mutual thing. It's kinda odd actually. I wonder how many other people there are that I pass every day and haven't noticed yet. Wouldn;t that be so weird if it was all like the Truman show????

Answer 3

To be really profound your question should be "How do you know you are ?"

In other words "how do I know I am? An example of an old answer to the question could be "I am that I am".

If you look at the verb 'to be' as in "to be or not to be" you are looking at "to exist or not to exist".

From there you can begin to discuss "How do I know I exist?" and "What is existence?"

And then attempt to define existence.

The reason why I think you should change your question is that human beings develop a sense of self in childhood - they become aware of their inner thoughts and of their relationship, both mentally and physically, to external entities.

These external entities are people (parents, siblings, friends etc.) and objects defined by all the senses - sight, hearing, smell, touch & taste.

How we relate to the world around us makes us what and who we are - every person having different social relationships, observing the world differently and amassing different experiences which define us uniquely.

The sense of self developed in childhood and honed throughout our lives makes each and everyone of us know who we are. We do not need evidence.

The question of what is reality or what is existence is different.

Do I exist or am I a product of your imagination? Did you dream this or did I? Are we in someone else's dream?

Answer 4

Human beings' eternal question - I think, therefore I am but you can't say this until you know yourself and as it takes a lifetime of study to even scratch the surface of this subject can you ever be sure? You can only have faith in yourself and accept the fact that you do in fact exist or how else could you have asked this question?

Answer 5

mmmmm. Me Myself & I & You & We can make it what ever we want it to be.

It is all fantasy... it is what you believe.

I understand your experience. let me share this with you I have wondered about the journey of the fork that got trapped in the drain. One day it caused so much trouble... our reality changed. Because it excisited where it excisited it changed our reality. Dad had to get in a big digger thing and our back yard was a mess. It caused me to sit back and think for a long time...how did it get there? how did they find it? Heck ... I was very young... i thought about for a long long time.

Dear Friend You are day dreaming and that is cool... Dream how you want your future to be....what will you do on a daily basis... how will it feel... how will it look... what will you be wearing... eating ....enjoy.

Do the best you can with what you have.

How do you know that you are you - when you are comfortable with yourself. When you are at peace.

A lovely question.

Answer 6

Well, that is a tricky one. So, five questions than. 1. Because that is the only way I can perceive my reality, it is impossible to be somebody else because as soon as I become that person that person is me, hence it's a self defeating concept. 2. See question 1. 3. This shell. 4. Because I choose to perceive it as such. I could choose to perceive reality as a construct, an illusion perceived by a higher mind to facilitate the medium we refer to as reality, but that to is a self defeating concept because existence as we perceive it is not the truth, it is our perception of the truth. 5. Existence as a concept is how the universe perceives itself through the senses of it's inhabitants.

Answer 7

The evidence that I am me comes from my birth certificate, the fact that my parents were handed me immediately after birth and I have a photo. I have my memories that remind me who I am. I have people who remeber I was born who remind me of it everyday. People corroberate by memories and stories. In the thought that my whole life is a conspiracy to fool me into believing I am who someone else wants me to believe I am. I would put forward the idea that NO-ONE IS THAT EFFIN BORED!!!

Answer 8

I may be in a comma right now imagining i have a life while in reality I've been in a hospital for 30 years,

or maybe i am THE ONE, i better wake up to destroy the Matrix before its to late

Answer 9

I am hesitant to answer this question. It may not really exist. May just be a figment of my imagination. So I will let it pass.

Answer 10

Funny you should ask that. Because every morning I wake up hoping that today I might be someone else ...

ps: If Maverick's in a comma, bagsey I'm in an apostrophe!! ;-)