Can anyone really prove anything?

[Xombie]

This question came to me a while back. Can anyone really prove anything 100 %?

My answer is no. One's reality is based on ones perspective. If someone has a hallucination then that is their reality. It is real to them. So what is life if not perspective?

Time is also based on perspective. Changes in gravity means changes in time.

Distance is also perspective. If a boy on a train throws a ball 6 feet. He will say the ball moved 6 feet, however someone watching the train move by would say the ball moved 600 feet as the train is moving. Yet somone out side the Earth would sya the ball moved X feet and so on.

Then this brings up a disturbing question. Since everyone only sees through their own perspective and their own reality then how does anyone know the world even exist? How does anyone know that the rest of the world is simply a figment of their imagination?

[kmeyers]

I can prove with %100 accuracy that a punch in the face hurts. Would you like me to demonstrate?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/kmeyers/punch2.gif

[west3man]

This question came to me a while back. Can anyone really prove anything 100 %?

My answer is no. One's reality is based on ones perspective. If someone has a hallucination then that is their reality. It is real to them. So what is life if not perspective?

Time is also based on perspective. Changes in gravity means changes in time.

Distance is also perspective. If a boy on a train throws a ball 6 feet. He will say the ball moved 6 feet, however someone watching the train move by would say the ball moved 600 feet as the train is moving. Yet somone out side the Earth would sya the ball moved X feet and so on.

Then this brings up a disturbing question. Since everyone only sees through their own perspective and their own reality then how does anyone know the world even exist? How does anyone know that the rest of the world is simply a figment of their imagination? I agree that almost EVERYTHING is relative.

That's why we have to agree on certain givens before we can communicate effectively. Among them, definitions. That's how I got my rep.

[Phrozen]

This question came to me a while back. Can anyone really prove anything 100 %?

My answer is no. One's reality is based on ones perspective. If someone has a hallucination then that is their reality. It is real to them. So what is life if not perspective?

Time is also based on perspective. Changes in gravity means changes in time.

Distance is also perspective. If a boy on a train throws a ball 6 feet. He will say the ball moved 6 feet, however someone watching the train move by would say the ball moved 600 feet as the train is moving. Yet somone out side the Earth would sya the ball moved X feet and so on.

Then this brings up a disturbing question. Since everyone only sees through their own perspective and their own reality then how does anyone know the world even exist? How does anyone know that the rest of the world is simply a figment of their imagination?

The greek cynics thought the very same thing. So, one day a student of Aristotle saw a cynic running away from a dog. The student cried out "I thought you said nothing is real?" The cynic replied "I know that but I can't convince my feet of it."

[Xombie]

The greek cynics thought the very same thing. So, one day a student of Aristotle saw a cynic running away from a dog. The student cried out "I thought you said nothing is real?" The cynic replied "I know that but I can't convince my feet of it."

Nice one :D

[Xombie]

I can prove with %100 accuracy that a punch in the face hurts. Would you like me to demonstrate?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v233/kmeyers/punch2.gif

No you can't :p :D

[Sanagi]

Correct. It's impossible to be %100 certain of anything. There's always the possibility that the reality you know is a hallucination, dream, or just a layer of a greater reality(as in The Matrix). While these scenarios are most likely not true, there is no way to completely rule them out.

[Dan Apodaca]

Welcome to the cause of my 1/5th life crisis at fourteen. That wasn't very fun at all.

[JeffreyWKramer]

This question came to me a while back. Can anyone really prove anything 100 %?

My answer is no. One's reality is based on ones perspective. If someone has a hallucination then that is their reality. It is real to them. So what is life if not perspective?

Time is also based on perspective. Changes in gravity means changes in time.

Distance is also perspective. If a boy on a train throws a ball 6 feet. He will say the ball moved 6 feet, however someone watching the train move by would say the ball moved 600 feet as the train is moving. Yet somone out side the Earth would sya the ball moved X feet and so on.

Then this brings up a disturbing question. Since everyone only sees through their own perspective and their own reality then how does anyone know the world even exist? How does anyone know that the rest of the world is simply a figment of their imagination?

While all you say is true, I approach this problem much as did that great philosopher, Daryl Hannah, in the movie SPLASH. When someone pointed out this conundrum, she noted (and I paraphrase here, as I can't recall the specific line, not having seen that film in a couple decades), "I think one can get a lot further assuming reality does exist than assuming it doesn't exist."

Arguments of expediency have merits at times.

[Wesley Dodds]

Nope, because all experience is mediated. We can never go outside the medium of our senses to check if something's true. So, in theory, we could all be in a Matrix-like situation or just thoughts in the mind of God.

Or can we? Logic is the answer. By being logical, we can map the world outside the mind. If we can find contradictions -- sort of like the repeats in the matrix -- we have a way of discovering what reality is. Our capacity to reason can give us true information about the world.

[BlairH]

Welcome to the cause of my 1/5th life crisis at fourteen. That wasn't very fun at all.

You had a 1/5th life crisis because you couldn't prove anything?

Now I know I am so much cooler than you :p (referance to earlier banter if anybody's wondering "ummmm no he's not")