e.g. how do we know water is what we say it is. who made it up???
2006-12-01 04:52:26 · 16 answers · asked by Koko ; 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Our parents and our teachers teach us this. Because to function we need a common language.
If you were taught that the sky was 'blueberry' and grass was 'banana' etc you wouldn't understand anyone and nobody would understand you. So we need that agreement about meanings for it all to work.
But it is just all by consensus. That's how new words are added to dictionaries. The people who write them take note when new words come into use and wait until there is general agreement about the meaning of a particular word.
The words we use for things now usually have their origins many years ago. But meanings change. For example some old books describe things as awful. What they mean is not that they are terrible but that they inspire awe. Nowadays we'd say awesome, so it was a good thing! Daft, innit?
2006-12-01 12:36:14 · answer #1 · answered by Nobody 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
water doesn't care if you know what it is. it will still be h2o. or maybe not. have you studied rene descartes? this sounds a lot like what he was talking about when he said 'cogito ergo sum'. descartes wondered if his whole world was just an illusion. the only thing he could really be sure of was the fact that in one form or another, he did exist. maybe other people perceive water in the same way as you do. maybe not. maybe the water and everything and everyone else is just an illusion presented to you to fool you into thinking that what you see is real. maybe i'm not even real. if that's the case, can i get 'best answer' since it doesn't matter at all?
2006-12-01 05:06:02 · answer #2 · answered by Dale B 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
we dont. we can only use our sences to tell us what things are. eg. water, we see as a slightly reflective and wet to touch. we use these sense but we cannot rely apon them. for example, if we feel a highly polished piece of metal we would say it is "perfectly smooth". however it is not, if you look at it through a microscope you will see something quite different, great scratches and craters on the surface. likewise, if you look around you right now you see nothing in the air, but really there are radio waves being emitted throught the air. Our sences are not great, so we cannot be sure if anything is anything...gosh, it makes you question your own existance doesnt it? hehehe
2006-12-01 05:30:38 · answer #3 · answered by ben w 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Fact. What makes things what they are is fact. A fact is something that is the case. It is the state of affairs reported by a true statement. But after time passes, some facts become not-facts and are discovered to be false. For example, the world is flat, the sun revolves around earth, Theory of relativity, etc. &c. Which leaves me wondering, how do I distinguish between what is fact, but later not a fact; and things that are matter of fact but, by chances, are not a fact of the matter at hand. .?. You see its very confusion, so I will just stop.
2006-12-01 05:06:49 · answer #4 · answered by Dimples 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's a really good question and no doubt some scientist could give you the answer. Would it come under Einstein's Theory of Relativity for instance. The thing I wonder about is, when everyone looks at a colour, do they see the same shade that I do.
2006-12-01 05:29:00 · answer #5 · answered by Sandee 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Descartes' doubt
Simply put - we trust our senses that what brain registers really is out there. We need to put those stimuli in order so we give them names and categories. it is not so much made as it is agreed upon.
we know water is water because we named H2O in liquid form water before we ever knew it was made of H2O.
2006-12-01 09:00:06 · answer #6 · answered by justme 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Water is two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen. H2O. That's a fact. People may have made up the name. It may also contain feces, nitrogen, formic acid etc., so that we don't know what it is, but these elements are not constituent parts.
2006-12-01 05:36:29 · answer #7 · answered by cymry3jones 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We do not. We learn where things are and what they do or what they can be used for. We remember these things,so that the next time we see them, they are recognised by us. We pass this knowledge on to other people and so the process of knowledge continues.
2006-12-01 08:46:43 · answer #8 · answered by Social Science Lady 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
it is agreed upon reality. if you saw a chair and said thats a chair but someone else said no thats a giraffe, you would not have the same reality and would find it difficult to talk to them
2006-12-01 05:01:28 · answer #9 · answered by Mr Cynical 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
using a electron tunneling microscope, you can sort of see what things are (like water)
2006-12-01 09:49:08 · answer #10 · answered by supremecritic 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋