how can i prove material things exist outside of the mind?

Question

what are some good ideas that prove material things exist outside of the mind?

Answer 1

All primary proof of material existence is ostensive... If you want to prove that the book you are reading exists to the person sitting next to you, smack him on the head with it!


"Existence exists—and the act of grasping that statement implies two corollary axioms: that something exists which one perceives and that one exists possessing consciousness, consciousness being the faculty of perceiving that which exists.

"If nothing exists, there can be no consciousness: a consciousness with nothing to be conscious of is a contradiction in terms. A consciousness conscious of nothing but itself is a contradiction in terms: before it could identify itself as consciousness, it had to be conscious of something. If that which you claim to perceive does not exist, what you possess is not consciousness.

"Whatever the degree of your knowledge, these two—existence and consciousness—are axioms you cannot escape, these two are the irreducible primaries implied in any action you undertake, in any part of your knowledge and in its sum, from the first ray of light you perceive at the start of your life to the widest erudition you might acquire at its end. Whether you know the shape of a pebble or the structure of a solar system, the axioms remain the same: that it exists and that you know it.

"To exist is to be something, as distinguished from the nothing of non-existence, it is to be an entity of a specific nature made of specific attributes..."

Answer 2

"Metaphysical realism" is the general approach which common sense (you're sitting in a "chair," right?), science (count those beans), and philosophy usually accept.

Kant believed that the thing itself (ding an sich, or thing as such) could not be encountered by spacetime man; we cannot directly prove that things exist, but we can guess, by common sense, science, and perceptive thinking.

Edmund Husserl went a step further, holding that ding an sich was perceivable, given state-specific preparation by the human observer. This is the phenomenological reduction, and it parallels the Tibetan Buddhist insight meditation, wherein the true suchness of the object or ding :-) is approached by a kind of Buddhic mind-meld, as the Buddhist meditator increases mindfulness.

Why one would want to prove things exist is an interesting study in itself. Know thyself, perhaps.

You might find "A Philosophy of Universality," O. M. Aivanhov, "Climb the Highest Mountain," Mark Prophet, "Watch Your Dreams," Ann Ree Colton, "Expecting Adam," Martha Beck, and even "Life before Life," Jim Tucker, M.D., "Extraordinary Knowing," Elizabteth Mayer, Ph.D., "Psychoenergetic Science," Dr. William Tiller http://www.tiller.org and "The Reincarnation of Edgar Cayce?", Free and Wilcock, http://www.divinecosmos.com useful.

best regards,

j.

Answer 3

This is more easily understandable if one considers the actual scale of the components of an atom. If one takes into account the fact that the neutrons, protons and electrons of an atom actually have huge spaces between them it becomes clear that the atoms that make up seemingly solid objects are made up of 99+ percent empty space.

This alone does not seem too important till you add the idea that the atoms that make up seemingly solid objects are more of a loose conglomeration that share a similar attraction but never really touch each other.

At first glance this does not really seem relevant, but closer analysis reveals that this adds a tremendous amount of empty space to solid objects that are already made up of atoms that are 99 percent space. When so-called solid objects are seen in this light it becomes apparent that they can in no way be the seemingly solid objects they appear to be.

We ourselves are not exceptions to this phenomenon.

These seemingly solid objects are more like ghostly images that we interpret as solid objects based on our perceptual conclusions.

From this we must conclude that Perception is some sort of a trick that helps us to take these ghostly images and turn them into a world we can associate and interact with. This clever device seems to be a creation of our intellect that enables us to interact with each other in what appears to be a three dimensional reality.

I hope that helps to answered your question.

Love and blessings Don

Answer 4

Use your 5 senses, of course. That's why you have them. I bet you're already using them to prove that material things exist outside your mind. You're wearing clothes, right? Using a computer, right? Eating food, right?

Answer 5

The onus is on God, that lots is obvious. We (in case you have self assurance in a deity) are it is creation, we in ordinary terms have the assistance it facilitates us. we are unlikely to get data from everywhere else if it somewhat is the case. there is yet another theory that I surely have been thinking recently. It concerns AI. the theory is that there might already be a number of AI already in existence, we are in simple terms no longer attentive to them and that they do no longer seem to communicate approximately us. Intelligence may be reported to be formed immediately from our perceptions of the universe around us. In our case it somewhat is the actual universe. For an AI, the actual universe is an precis theory. in the digital universe an intelligence might desire to variety and be thoroughly blind to any actual constraints. they only do no longer exist and consequently nor can we. it would be as much as us to tutor our existence. in the comparable way, Gods concept of the universe and time etc. may be thoroughly alien to us and our alien to it. God may be as unaware human beings as we are of it. we are those that characteristic it is effect without genuine data. Oh sure, and then there is the HHGTTG argument. data denies faith and without faith God isn't something.

Answer 6

Physics is the study of the Physical world... and I understand their most recent conclusion is that the material world doesn't exist. It's all just empty space.

That makes it all the more imperative to understand empty space... since in reality, Spirit is all that there is.

Answer 7

Kick somebody in the testicles. If that don't prove they exist, nothing will.

Answer 8

even if they do , they are worthless without the mind that is the only way to recognize them.

Answer 9

I think ultimately its impossible. But I think idealism is irrational and unnecessary.

Answer 10

They do not, yet you have to use "mind" to come to any conclusion!