If I put a chair in front of you and asked you to prove to me that the chair does not exist, how would you do it?
2006-12-20 09:11:45 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
"If you are speaking of what is not, then what you are speaking about is nothing, i.e., is not anything at all. That is, you are not speaking of anything, which is to say that you are not even speaking. For speaking is always speaking of something, and in the (alleged) case of “speaking of what is not” there is nothing that is being spoken of. So there is no such thing as “speaking of what is not.”
~Parmenides
2006-12-20 09:25:31 · answer #1 · answered by I Ain't Your Momma 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you sat a chair in front of me and wanted me to prove to you that the chair doesn't exist. I would tell you that what doesn't exist is your common sense.
Obviously you touched, saw, and even called the chair a chair. What more is there in existence than this (perception and reality)?
2006-12-20 18:37:40 · answer #2 · answered by oneclassicmaiden 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's a logical impossibility to prove something doesn't exist,....you simply can't prove a negative.
It is logically impossible to prove that an object or event does NOT exist. However, it is the essence and the backbone of science to provide evidence that something does exist. If something exists, such as energy, matter or space, it manifests itself to us by objective evidence. We can measure such manifestations or we can take objective images of them.
Only persons, who do not utilize logic, will accept as true statements that are completely unsupported by factual evidence. These are the people who can be made to believe that a chair in front of them does not exist. They can only rely on faith that i'm telling the truth, "there is no chair there" even in the face of overwelming evidence to the contrary.
2006-12-20 21:02:57 · answer #3 · answered by Its not me Its u 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I would, in the vein of Descartes, appeal to the fact that in dreams, things like chairs, tables etc., seem to exist, but surely we can not say that they do in the same sense as I exist. Now, if you realize that you could be dreaming right now, given that you are also in a state of ignorance about whether or not your dreaming in dreams, it follows that the chair could just be some dream object in your dream, and that it really does not exist independent of you.
2006-12-20 17:26:37 · answer #4 · answered by Nickelbob 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oh no, its a stool, not a chair. There are no such thing as chairs, so obviously it must be a stool. If it is a stool then it never was a chair, and the chair you see before you doesn't exist! Fascinating, isn't it?
2006-12-20 17:27:08 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would close my eyes because seeing is believing. However having said that I must admit that I am blind so therefore it follows that I don't exist either .
2006-12-20 17:28:40 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
The same way I would prove to you that God and/or Santa Clause doesnt exist
2006-12-20 17:19:14 · answer #7 · answered by MM 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
integrity amoungst opressors!
2006-12-20 17:16:05 · answer #8 · answered by drow 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
remember... "there is no spoon."
2006-12-20 17:32:44 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋