How do we know that the world exists, that it isn’t just in our minds?

Question

Hey guys.. just a statement my philosophy teacher made today, and responses? id be interested in hearing what you guys think.

Thanks

Answer 1

were here arn't we we can't all think the same world in our minds

Answer 2

Ask your prof if he is or ever was a "Logical Positivist." Oh, and ask if you're going to *do* anyting with the answer to the question....

I think this should be a two part question, with Part 2 being:
*How does/should being uncertain, fairly certain or positive about anything affect how we relate to and act in the world?

After all, how can you know that you know anything? You can't logically be positive of anything... it's big time 'we're all brains in a bottle being electrically stimiulated by the great bagel in the sky' for all we know...

Don't go too far down that road... it always ends absurdly.

Answer 3

Who knows ?. It is a combination of a picture on the retina which is transmitted via the optic nerve to the brain which actually tells us we are seeing the world around us, so it really is in our minds..It could all be an illusion .And no body knows for sure if other people interpret the same way.

Answer 4

As Humans, we are not perfect & therefore know nothing, truly. So there is no way to absolutely know anything beyond a shadow of a doubt. However, we can believe. In spite of everything (or nothing), the evidence is pretty compelling that the world & beyond exists.

Answer 5

I think Bertrand Russell said it best when he said "when one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also admit that some things are much more nearly certain than others. It is much more nearly certain that we are assembled here tonight than it is that this or that political party is in the right. Certainly there are degrees of certainty, and one should be very careful to emphasize that fact, because otherwise one is landed in an utter skepticism, and complete skepticism would, of course, be totally barren and completely useless."

Answer 6

Ask your professor if s/he is a solipsist. (Solipsism is basically the belief that nothing exists outside of our minds.) From his/her statement, it sounds like s/he is, so s/he will have to say yes. If the world only exists in our minds, then everything IN the world only exists in our minds...including rocks.

That's when you take your professor outside and throw a rock at his/her head. If s/he ducks, then s/he obviously doesn't believe that the world is only in his/her mind. Call him/her a liar, ask for your A, and enjoy the rest of the semester.

Answer 7

Can we really think? Is thought real? What does a thought look like.....and the New England Patriots will crush the Dallas Cowboys Sunday night. The Cowboys will know the Patriots are for REAL!!!

Answer 8

Check out the movie "Waking Life" for an existential head trip. I myself prefer taking the red pill. If I am just a head in a jar or a comatose person...that's fine too.

Answer 9

What a coincidence! The same world is in everyone's mind, in the same way, at the same time! What are the chances?

Just look around you. There's stuff there. All that stuff exists, doesn't it? Well . . .

Answer 10

We have physical bodies that are made to interact in this real world we live in. And the intelligence that allows us to interact with reason controls our bodies. And we live and share in a real world with animals and plants.

Animals and plants may not have the intelligence we have yet they "know enough to actively live because in their world it is kill or be killed." And life and death is real enough for animals, plants, and especially human beings.

Answer 11

Well if is not possible to control the world than it wouldn't matter if it did or not. Other people's feelings, your own joy, it doesn't matter how they are formed are even if they are real, fake things have a huge impact on reality.