Is the self really all that we know to exist?

Answer 1

No. We don't know that the self exists, by any accepted meaning of the words "know," "self," and "exists."

We cannot know that we are people who have our apparent forms, genders, ages, or states of being. We could be caterpillars in cocoons on an alien planet, dreaming that we are human beings, or elements of "The Matrix," or even just brains in vats, being electrically stimulated to imagine a virtual world. Who knows? Maybe we (and by that, I mean that any one of us, excluding all others, because we can't know other people exist, either) are only artificially intelligent programs that feel like we have free will, when we are only running through our predefined commands.

This is actually one of the strongest arguments behind a "transcendental" apologetic. I've talked to a lot of people over the years about epistemology, and how one can escape complete skepticism that can get us past the point of, "We know something, somewhere, that represents us, exists, but can we really call that 'ourselves' and 'existence,' if that representative entity bears no resemblance to our self-image?"

It turns out that the only way to escape complete skepticism is to reject it aesthetically, as in, "I do not like complete skepticism, I want to believe in something, so I chose to believe that my existence is in my apparent form." From there, you can chose to trust your senses, and become a physicalist, or rationalist, or whatever. Or, you can choose the transcendental approach by relying on the ability of the self to ask questions such as "Is the self really all that we know to exist," which is also internally consistent.

Answer 2

Existentialism had its heydey a while ago, culminating in Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged." As a famous physicist remarked once while walking with a colleague, when asked that same question, "I refute it thus" and proceeds to kick a rock.

Answer 3

Our own perception is the only thing we know to exist.

Answer 4

that which we can observe and measure exists to us. it may not exist in any other realm but why should we care? we live in this one

Answer 5

As of now, I believe that to be indefinitely yes! ;)

Answer 6

yes

Answer 7

yeah

Answer 8

if a tree fell in a forest, and there was no one.........................????