how do you even prove that you exist?

Question

what to do in your measley existence to actually know for yourself that you, as a person, has actually existed

the only reason you find it dumb is because you cant understand the depth of it

the notion, "i think therefore i am" didn't really prove the truth in existence. it assumed that existence was true. in the following line the concept of existence was an axiom:

(the full version of the i-think-therefore-i-am-philosophy)

i think therefore i am
i think therefore i am thinking
i am thinking therefore there is a thinker
if there is a thinker, something or someone must have brought upon the existence of that thinker
the thinker was created by a creator


descartes line was in actuality a line used to prove the existence of a god; not the truth in existence. this was descartes' attempt to prove that something was true; that a creator was a universal truth

Answer 1

existence for me is not carrying any identity cards or stuff like that,

i have been participating in yahoo answers from may and i have 60% best answer rate with 91 best answers in 150 questions, it means that i have almost solved the problems of 91 people, who'll never forget me i their problem is solved, I'll be in their hearts for ever,
now that's what is called existence for me,
now say, have i proved my existence?
yes i have,

but i have still a lot to do, up to now i haven't done anything which is useful for my nation, my motherland, ---- I'll definitely do it, if i don't do it, there will be a gap in my life. not only me, every citizen should do some thing which is good for his mother land,
regards,
sudhi

Answer 2

Well, Descartes said, "I think therefore I am." but Descartes also believed that the soul interacted with the body through the Pineal gland which then moved the body through a series of pulleys. Descartes was WRONG. Sorry Cartesians.

Moving along, We don't know we think, we know we experience thinking. More so, we can't know if we are are experiencing or if there is merely experience without an experiencer. So, one thing is for sure. There is an experaince. Everything else is up in the air.

Answer 3

It is a very intelligent question. When you stop thinking, what exists then? If the conclusion is thinking thinks, then where is the thinker? Good Brilliant question.....When the thought ceases to exist, the whole exisence become what? Can it hold this complex body anymore as self? Is it enlightened existence?????When there is only observing and the observed, observer become absent. Since thought gives an irrational approach to thinking and observing since observer exists. The moment, thought become clear on its arising and falling nature and taking another thought before completing one, observer feels his existence. When the observer follows the though without any judgement, feeling disappears and thus the observer disappears.

First we have to define here what is existence. Then we have to define some everchanging reality incomparison with something stagnant at least more stable than self. A very deep subject to look at...

Then the moment, I say I am this, I become something else as any other existence in this world. Then all the definitions are futile about the self...............

Then, poetically, I exist in your eyes and senses.......if you exist

Answer 4

There is the classic answer,"I think, therefore I am," but how do we know we're not just thinking that we are? According to our senses we exist, but those are just sensory experiences, not pure scientific proof. We could be like Moriarty in Star Trek: The Next Generation. He existed only on the holodeck, and when he was released, it was into a larger version of the holodeck which approximated the universe. It meant he could explore the entire universe without actually leaving a cube.

Answer 5

I know that I exist because I have feeling and emotion. My actions cause reactions. I have made both positive and negative effects on things and with people. I make a difference in the atmosphere of where I am. And I know i exist because I have a heart and i can feel as well as a brin so i can think. At least to me and in my world i exist!!!

Loved that question!!!

You can contact me if you like to talk about stuff like this
[e-mail]!!

I am also curious how you would answer this question

Answer 6

You're right i don't see a way of proving that i do exist ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE "REST OF THE WORLD".

i guess i can say that i am aware therefore i exist but i could surely never say for sure that i actually existed.

the distinction here is that i had an AWARENESS that I existed. in no way does that prove that i existed. that proves only that there was an awareness.

besides it's pretty tough to prove that "I" exists when there is no concrete definition of me. are we talkong of the body here or the "mind" or some other unseen feeling or concept?

Answer 7

How do you prove a tree exists? If the tree falls on you and you die it means that you existed and the tree has fallen. If you ask me how I can prove that you have died, well it can go on and on. We often have to start with some premises and one of the most important of these is that we exist.
This is probably what Descartes meant when he said "Cogito, Ergo Sum" The very fact that you ask questions and we answer them means that we exist in standard accepted terms.

Answer 8

Ok. Since I do not see life from your perspective, I may not understand the question as you mean for me to, but I do have thoughts about this sometimes.

I think, I reason, I hope, I sense things. Does this mean I exist? Also, although I have thoughts and events happen around me, is this all "imagined" by a formless thought that exists somewhere and I refer to as "me."

Was my birth an event that is actually recorded on paper at an office that actually exists in my town of birth? Or is that, too, part of the story I have imagined? Do my friends exist? Or have I imagined them to exist to prevent my thought-self from being lonely? Do I imagine events in their lives to round out and make sense of my own "existence"?

While I see golden sunrises, what do you see? Do you see the same golden sunrise? Or do you see my pink, red, or even blue?

How can I prove my existence? I think it is easier to prove it to you than it is to prove it to myself. Although, if you accept that I am the person submitting this answer, will you, also, question whether I am a figment of your thought-self? That, in fact, it is you who imagined me into being for this brief moment?

I do believe that I exist. I believe that I do have a body and a mind and a spirit. I do believe that my birth is recorded and my birth certificate is a valid record of my birth.

I do wonder, sometimes, though, if what I experience inside this body is fully the experience of life that others have or whether some of my experience is flavored, shadowed, or even muted by my perceptions. And I wonder if what I see as brilliant orange is the same as what others see, and rather, whether we all exist with the same universal "rules of being" in place.

Answer 9

My art, it reaffirms and reflects my existence in a more real way than my body that is perceived to exist by others and by my own observations. For a deeper answer, perception is the key-
Without light would you exist? No. Because nothing is perceivable without light. So in a world of light existence is pr oven through the ability to see light as it reacts to the masses that coexist with it. In a world of no light there would be no existence, because nothing can be perceived.

Answer 10

the irony of it is that you can prove that you did exist when you have long been gone and people still talk about your good deeds. And the stories get passed down to the next generation and you become a hero. Count the passing generations and they now wonder if you truly existed cuz you have now become a legend.