Do I really exist ?

Question

Do I really exist ?

Answer 1

You can prove to yourself that you exist. You can't prove to someone else.

Answer 2

You first have to define the word "exist" and what kind of attribute you consider something as to "existing".

"Cogito ergo sum." - Rene Descartes.

"I think, therefore i am."

I can prove that i exist to myself, but with descartes's reasoning, i cannot prove that you exist, simply because i cannot validate that you can contemplate as well(philosophically speaking). Its up to you to apply descartes's reasoning, "you think, therefore you are".

You can prove that you exist to yourself, but you cannot prove that other people exist if you take desacrtes's reasoning to prove existence.

Answer 3

Could you ask the question that I read if you do not exist?  In order to ask "Do I really exist?", you must exist; else there can be no adequate explanation for the existence of the question.

Bran th' Blessed

Answer 4

Does who really exist?

Answer 5

Descartes also said, "I am, I exist'.

You are.

There you go :).

Answer 6

Quite another one whose existence is not another inquisition.

Answer 7

what kind of question is that?? of course you exist! otherwise we wouldn't even be having this conversation right now.

Answer 8

Define what you mean by "existence".

I define it as "something that is the case".

Such as  - if elephants were the case, then elephants existed.

Now, what is the case?

Something is only the case if it appears to be the case.

For example, if my hair appears to you to be black, then it is the case that "my hair appears black from one point-of-view". Therefore, my hair exists as black from that point-of-view.

Now, if someone questions this appearance, one can easily throw back the sceptic by saying:

"If nothing appeared to me, then I would not have thought it had appeared to me."

Because we only think of what we know. Like a rainbow has been seen and thats how we know of it. A dragon is decscribable by what we know: a big snake-like monster which breathes fire. But who knows what ether is? When I hear ether, I think of some grey smoke in the air. Why? Because I have experienced and perceived that smoke. But we all know that the idea of ether does not include grey or smoke.

Therefore, we only think of what has appeared to us. Thus if we think of something, we can safely conclude that that has appeared to us.

Now - back to your question. "Do I exist?"

Does it appear to you that you exist? Why? Because you do. The idea of "i" does exist in you because it is real.

Now, some may say that in that case, a dragon is real. The difference is that a dragon is real, but only as an idea. "I" is real only as an idea.

And this is what leads to an idealist approach to the world, that everything is idea.

But here's the next argument: when we think of a dragon, they exist in our minds, right? But their existence is dependent on our thoughts. However, we consider only as "Real" those things we perceive in-dependently of our minds - like this computer. However hard I tried, I could not make it vanish.

Now, if I saw a dragon in a way that I could not make it vanish, that would mean that this is "Real". "Real" as in real in the outside world.

Let's extend this argument to your question. Can you make the idea of "I" vanish? Can you actually make it "Unreal"? No. Because it is "Real". You are there - and the proof? Because it's right in front of you and it won't go away.

PS. Remember that the word "exist" was made by humans to correspond to a human concept. So, therefore, don't let words control your thinking. If the concept had not existed as an idea, it would not have been given a word. And we all know that the concept of existence was defined as "something that exists".

Therefore, when we first made the word, we must have used to refer to "something". So we can conclude that something must have existed. And what's more obvious that ourselves who actually made the concept and the term?!

We define what is "existence" and we categorise things into existence/non-existence slots and we judge these categories based on what we believe. Therefore, we must first exist to categorise other existing things into existent/non-existent slots.

Sorry if this is a confusing read - excuse my dense writing

Hope I could clarify a few points

Enjoy!

PS. I have never heard a better reply to the sceptic than the one given by Petros (the guy who answered below me). "Does who really exist?"

Excellent. If I didn't want the 10 points, I would have him have it rather than the other answers. It shows how definitions and language can lead us astray.

Answer 9

like Descartes said "I think therefore I am"

and like Socrates said "all I know is that I know nothing."

so to sum it up, no one really knows ;)

Answer 10

you exsist in the way our dictionary uses the term exsist.

you exsist to yourself, and to your mind, and that is all you need

Answer 11

Yes, you were able to ask this question, weren't you.:)

Answer 12

The self is an illusion. A body typed in the question though. So your body exists.

Answer 13

Ask someone to slap your face as hard as he can,and if you feel pain, then you still exist.     The question is what you do with it.

Do not worry what the society think of you, but concentrate what you can do for you in the society.  

Answer 14

No. You are a fictional character from a TV show, but you don't get that much screen time.

Answer 15

well if your a solipsist yes you do but no one and nothing else really dose.

aren't you special :D

Answer 16

You are a figment of my imagination.

Answer 17

I think, yes

Answer 18

If you can read this...... YES!

Answer 19

No, and I am a figment of your imagination.