how can you say that you are not in a dream like world unto where you limit yourself according to the world you are known to be in. how can you prove that you are alive or are you just imagining it?
2006-12-17 14:04:16 · 14 answers · asked by ohyea 1 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I think Descartes ideas very much prove our existence. Think about it like this- if you believe you are alive and you exist, then you know at least your mind exists because you're using it. So you can prove you have a mind at least, but you can doubt you have a body. This is Descartes' Dualism about how the mind and body are separate because you don't have to have a body to have a mind.
2006-12-17 18:34:32 · answer #1 · answered by ? 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Assume the opposite, that nothing is real. Then this assumption is also not real. In other words, when you cannot tell what is real, nothing is real.
Only when you look at the world and accept it as real does anything make any sense. And only then is any meaning possible.
I realized this when I was 4 years old. What is taking you so long? Time for you to leave the house of mirrors you are playing in.
Years later I ran across a similar argument that Descartes wrote about several hundred years ago, about an evil demon who turned the world into paper, to fool the people there. All he did is make reality out of paper. It was still the reality. It was highly amusing. You might enjoy reading it. Do a Google search on Descartes' Evil Demon.
2006-12-17 22:13:40 · answer #2 · answered by Alan Turing 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
From a philosophical standpoint, Descartes was not convincing to me. Nonetheless, I do believe I am alive, but simply believing is proof of nothing. I could believe that 1+1=3, but that doesn't make it so.
I don't think it is possible to prove that you are alive except by noting that any actions you take or choices you make cause other people or creatures or things to react to you. Why would they react if you did not exist? Even if you are dreaming, or even if you are a figment of somebody else's imagination, there seems no other logical answer to why people or creatures or objects would react to your actions unless you are alive.
2006-12-18 00:33:38 · answer #3 · answered by G A 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't need to prove if this is the real life or just a dream... the most important thing is I'm enjoying and I'm surviving with this so called life ;-)
2006-12-17 23:37:21 · answer #4 · answered by ♥Sapphire 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You've been watching the Matrix too much.
You have to be alive to dream so even if I'm in a dream world, I'd have to be alive to dream it.
2006-12-17 22:07:53 · answer #5 · answered by Geoff S 6 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Ask some one to pinch you very hard or insert a pin in your flesh.If you cry out you are alive if you don't you are dead. If you can still bear the pain ask some one to slash your hand with a knife.
2006-12-17 23:52:46 · answer #6 · answered by Brahmanda 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I can't. You can't prove we are in some kind of dream world. The presupposition is " alive ", and that is the one we act on.
2006-12-17 22:12:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Can a someone who is not alive, even ask a question?
2006-12-18 18:06:53 · answer #8 · answered by kensai 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Rene Descartes said " I think therefore I am" thinking about yourself proves you exist
2006-12-17 22:07:48 · answer #9 · answered by Ricky R 1 · 0⤊ 1⤋
If no one has taken the liberty of burying you, you're probably still alive.
2006-12-17 22:58:30 · answer #10 · answered by irish1 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋