Do we really KNOW anything at all?

Question

How do we know if there is or isn't a god? How do we know what we are, why we're here, what the world really is?

Not what do you believe, how do we KNOW.

How do we know anything, really? All we have is our senses and our thoughts. How easily those can be manipulated. I think I'm typing on a keyboard right now, my fingers feel the keys, my eyes see the screen, but it could all be a dream.

Everything we've always known could change in an instant. Hell, maybe it already has.

How do we know what we see every day is even reality? How do we know the universe isn't just riding along on the back of a dust speck in a much larger universe? How do we know we're not just brains in jars, hooked up to electrodes that make us think we're experiencing the world? How do we know we're not all computer programs, or characters in a madman's dream?

How do we know that we even exist?

We. Don't. Know. Anything.

Luscious, why the venom? Do I even know you? Or are you just this charming to everyone?

Jessica R, that doesn't prove anything.

Mike J, you don't know, you believe. Nothing wrong with that, but it's still not knowing.

Morey000, that's a start. But sometimes I wonder if old rene wasn't making a leap even there...

Answer 1

Does it really matter? Why not make the best of what we have and not worry about what others think is real or not real ? Find the path that is right for you and don't worry if you have to walk it alone. If it is truly your path then other people's realities and truths have no meaning to you.

But remember if a person finds a path stands still on it then, it is no longer a path and the mind will shrivel and die.

Answer 2

We actually know quite a bit, but as a human pastime we like to squabble over almost everything.

Consider the senses teach , lets step that way for a sec and see what's over there:

The eyes tell us there is Religion as we Read the text of the Bible.

Our eyes and ears tell us to interpret what we see and hear and in doing so, we hear Preachers tell us "the way" and so on; our eyes read books and internet pages having the ATTESTMENTS OF THOUSANDS whom report they died on the operating table, or on the toilet and "Saw God"; went threw the tunnel fo light, saw countless entities, "Cities" and so on...

The interesting this is, the overwhelmong corroboration and overlapping evidence of "life after death";

Unless you elect to dismiss what you see and hear and further dismiss the attestments it is clear that "We Are" conscious, alive, thinking, making and so on.

If you elect to lable your experiences a delusion, I would submit, what would be the difference?

What you see "behind you" is your history, placed there by your perceptions to validate your present , your future place beofre you also, to validate the past and present; like a time sandwhich holding you in place like the eternal Boloney; hey, someone had to say it...

Your question is more acurate than you thinik, makes more sense than some may think also as "All things exist in the moment" it is our perceptions, again, that teach us history-present and futures.

Answer 3

Definition of knowledge:
The grasping of the facts of reality by perceptual observation and/or by logical reasoning based on perceptual observation.

Reason is the spiritual faculty of a human being. When one rejects reason, all that's left is an animal. Knowledge can only be achieved through the senses and reasoning. Knowledge is not automatic, it has to be tested against reality and it must not contradict reality. Therefore, we are not infallible. Objectivism, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, tells us that humans are endowed by reason and that reason is the proper tool for acquiring knowledge of reality. Logical reasoning rejects the following philosophical ideas:

SKEPTICISM declares that since we cannot be automatically right in our acquisition of knowledge, therefore all knowledge is impossible. Skeptics conclude that we know nothing.

MYSTICISM declares that humans have ways other than sense-perception to acquire knowledge (revelation, faith, intuition, etc.) If we turn to God we acquire all the really important knowledge. Since God is incapable of error, knowledge acquired through God is automatically right.

INTRINSICISM - Intrinsicists, such as Plato and Augustine, sustain that knowledge happens by exposure to reality, randomly. They believe that man's mind contains knowledge already and when we are exposed to new experience we "remember" the knowledge that was already in our minds. The motto of an intrinsicist is: "If you understand, no explanation is necessary; if you do not, no explanation is possible."

SUBJECTIVISM is the idea exemplified by Kant and John Dewey where each individual has the mental ability to create his own private universe and knowledge is therefore whatever conforms to one's arbitrary preference.

Answer 4

There is no way to know anything with 100% certainty.

Everything humans comprehend is filtered through our nervous system, into the delicate connections of our brains. But taking this limit into account, it is possible to learn about the world outside of ourselves with as much certainty as possible. We can also use the process of the scientific method and refined instruments to understand things outside of ordinary human perception, like infrared light, quasars, or atoms.

Answer 5

Girl Wonder, Have you ever had LSD? If you haven't you should. I guarantee the first time you try it, your question will be answered. Its more simple than we can imagine, So simple that we choose to ignore the fact that we made it all up, imagination, that is what life is..
Reality is that we are nothing, Just animals with large brains and nothing better to do than wait to die.

Answer 6

We only know as much as we wish to know.
We can believe whatever we want to believe, and yet not know for sure if our beliefs are the final knowing of all truths.

We do exist somehow in some form of conscious thought and we are Humans being ourselves.

I know am typing an answer to this question. (or am I dreaming it)?
I guess you are correct.....we really don't know do we?

But....it is fun don't ya think?

Answer 7

How very Emmanual Kant-ish of you! It's not really a livable world view. You just made a statement professing the knowledge that you can't know anything. You have to have "more than" knowledge to make that statement. I know a lot of things. I know 2+2=4. And how do we know we exist? You have to exist to ask a question!

Answer 8

What about the statement by René Descartes, 'Cogito, ergo sum' . This is Latin for "I think, therefore I am". You seem to be doing a lot of that. But it won't get you to see that there is a supernatural realm with a supernatural God. Supernatural means it's above normal logic and sense.

Answer 9

As Mike Rowe would say "This is the time I come up with something witty to say about this subject." And, as Mike did on an episode, my answer is "I got nothin' "

You hit the nail on the head. Our best guess is science, and that's even got holes in it.

I really admire people like you who think for themselves!

WhyNot--------> OUT

Answer 10

I don't know anything, but I really don't care. I'm never going to know, and I'm happy just living my life not thinking about the big questions, although operating under the assumption that there is no god. Working for me.