How do I know I Exist?

[Lawllerskater]

Don't know, don't care.
Just go through the motions.

 

[fullautomatic555]

You can prove that you don't know that you exist by saying you're always changing. Every time you look at yourself in the mirror, you are changing. Look now at your fingernails. Now look again: they are longer (even if you can't see that with your naked eye). And since you are (like the fingernails) not the same as you were even a second ago, how can you be sure that you even exist? Who are you anyways? I hope that helps

 

[soundoflights]

My answer would be that I can't prove that I don't know I exist because I know I exist because the word exist is defined by me.

 

[Bek359]

I'm in grade 9 (young, I know) And yikes, will we really be learning this kind of thing? It seems to me more like an infinite loop of questions that get you nowhere. The more you find out, the more questions you have, thus the more things you need to find out.

In the end, the only thing you learn is that you are even more ignorant then you thought you were.

Congratulations, you no longer have to take any philosophy classes ever.

 

[The Rockerfly]

You have 5 senses that make you aware of your surroundings and you have free will therefore you can think yourself. I am well aware that your 5 senses could be boundaries to govern you existence but it makes more sense to believe in them then it does to not believe in them

Tell me though, if you believe that you don't exist then what does it matter? Why not dive under a train as you don't exist and since pain is not a limitation what is stopping you from achieving an existence you can except as existing? Unless you spend countless hours researching it in your spare time I think it's safe to say you subconsciously believe you exist and unless you are actively search for ways to break out of this existence then you also accept it.

It's a shit existence but it's the best we have until virtual reality gives us all power of the gods.

 

[subtlefuge]

Cogito Ergo Sum - I think therefore I am
Dubito Ergo Sum- I doubt therefore I am

-Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method

I have always found this a more convincing argument for defining humanity rather than existence. I know that's not the intention, but just wondering if you exist doesn't seem to really prove that you do actually exist.

That said, I'll vouch for your existence OP and you can vouch for mine.

 

[mikespoff]

Here: you don't exist!

Now that teh internetz has said so, it counts as proof.

 

[subtlefuge]

Well let my lay down some points for you.
1. I think, therefore i am.
2. If i didn't exist, why would i worry about existing?
3. I care about what happens to me, if i didn't exist would i have self preservation?

Sooo yea this is what i got on the top of my head.

If I think you not, are you?

Spoiler

It's a stupid question, don't bother answering it. It's shallow and designed to be intentionally confusing.

 

[Android2137]

Clearly the only option is to not show up for the presentation, since you don't exist to give it, seems reasonable to me!

That's brilliant! It's like that story where the philosophy professor wanted his class to prove his chair didn't exist! One student wrote, "What chair?"

 

[GreyEarth]

I'm fairly certain I exist. I'm not so sure about the rest of you though.

 

[Danish_4116]

Ask yourself this question, and then answer.

I have to deliver a presentation that has me "prove that I DON'T know I exist" and can simply not figure out how to go about doing this. Its pretty damn hard to prove you don't know something like that!
Wonder if anyone here knows about TOK...

I did I.B. and finished it last year. I ended up with a B in TOK so I'm pretty happy about that

I guess you can approach it by saying that you may not exist as a physical being but as a metaphysical or spiritual being.

Or something like that. I swore off TOK the second I finished my presentation.

 

[fullautomatic555]

You have 5 senses that make you aware of your surroundings and you have free will therefore you can think yourself. I am well aware that your 5 senses could be boundaries to govern you existence but it makes more sense to believe in them then it does to not believe in them

But let's say you and I are both looking at something. It's an apple. It's red. But what is red? It's just the way your eyes send signals to your brain, right? Is my red the same as yours? The same as a colorblind person? If not, is it really the same apple? because yours is a different color than mine.. well a different red. You get the idea

Also, don't get me and my deterministic mind started on free will

 

[fullautomatic555]

I'm fairly certain I exist. I'm not so sure about the rest of you though.

Most educated response in this thread, right here ^^

 

[Hawgh]

Descartes yadda yadda meditations yadda yadda "I think, therefore I must be" yadda bahaba. The meditations are a solid argumentation for your existence, I recommend you look at them, cause I can barely remember enough to paraphrase them.

 

[WarCorrespondent]

Either I exist, or my subconscious created this thread and all the people talking within it.

I don't care, as long as I get to play Paper Mario.

 

[The Coop]

Prove you don't exist? That reminds me of a class I once took where the only question on the final exam was "Why?" The answer? "Why not?" I'm 100% serious.

Perhaps the thing to do is to not go off on a five page tangent about this or that, but rather whittle it down to a core idea that's opposite of what's been asked of you, keep the wording and concept simple, and run with it.

 

[Ian Caronia]

You think, therefor you are. Most fitting for this: If you didn't exist, how could you pose that question?

Ahh Rene Descartes, my favorite philosopher. Though I'm always worried I spell his name wrong.
You get an A for not just parroting his conclusion but also expounding on it in a simple way.

 

[Eisenfaust]

beyond the obvious (Descartes) i actually accidentally discovered something on this issue within objectivism (and it's one of the few good things within objectivism)

consciousness is a reactionary phenomenon. As she puts it, "to be conscious is to be conscious of something," that is consciousness itself cannot be distinguished or grasped except in relation to an independent reality. "It cannot be aware only of itself?there is no 'itself' until it is aware of something." Thus, Objectivism holds that the mind does not create reality, but rather, it is a means of discovering reality... simply put, you know you exist (or at least your consciousness does) because you react and interact with a reality (even if the reality is manufactured ie: the matrix, etc)

 

[Korolev]

It's impossible for an individual to prove they don't exist to themselves - if they are thinking, they exist. The mere act of question your existence proves that SOMETHING IS THERE TO QUESTION ITS OWN EXISTENCE, thereby, solving the problem - if you can question your existence, there must be something doing the questioning.

It's a fools quest - Descartes proved that the ONLY THING you can be absolutely, 100%, never-ever-doubt-it, carve-it-in-stone, certain of is your own existence.

Whoever gave you that topic is either doing it as a joke or is just trolling you. You can't prove you don't exist to yourself. You can't. Unless you are insane.

 

[Dunvi]

Don't try to prove that you don't know if you exist. Instead, fail to prove that you know you exist. It's a smidgen of a difference, but it's much easier, in my opinion.