Philosophy Now Forum

What, if anything, can we know with absolute, infallible certainty? The only thing that can be known with absolute certainty is that ‘experiences exist’. Experiences include thoughts, feelings, and awareness (sensory experiences). Whether these experiences relate to something real or certain, canno...

When can we trust our senses with 100% reassurance? Never. Our awareness (i.e. sensory experiences) are on this side of the wall. Just because awareness exists, does not mean this awareness is a true representation of something ‘out there’. We are not privy to what is ‘out there’, but instead, only...

So does reality really exist? Who cares? Since we can never see beyond the (illusionary) reality that we 'perceive', why should we even care about the 'real' reality? Why care what's on the other side of the wall? We are trapped on this side! Live within your illusions (...that's all we can do anyw...

Lev, before you discount the simplicity of life, let me ask you --- Do you agree that life (as we know it) is comprised of ONLY experiences? Or do you feel that there is something more than ‘experience’? Are we not trapped within our own subjective experiences? Or do you believe that we can experie...

Are we not trapped within our own subjective experiences? Or do you believe that we can experience something (or anything!) that is not itself one of these experiences? That's called solipsism. Read Descartes' Meditations, then Locke, Berkeley, and Hume's development of those ideas, Hobbes' critici...

Are we not trapped within our own subjective experiences? Or do you believe that we can experience something (or anything!) that is not itself one of these experiences? That's called solipsism. Read Descartes' Meditations, then Locke, Berkeley, and Hume's development of those ideas, Hobbes' critici...

...life is not "Simple" and that no simple explanation will do, and is unworthy of the massive differences and complexities. Lev, before you discount the simplicity of life, let me ask you --- Do you agree that life (as we know it) is comprised of ONLY experiences? Or do you feel that the...

HexHammer wrote:So by your logic, any robot is alive, brilliant logic ............NOT!!

Hi HH, you may want to rethink "your logic". --- “All Apples are Fruit” does NOT mean “All Fruit are Apples”.

Ginkgo wrote:

Wyman wrote:As to consciousness, I never said anything about it, I just asked you to justify one of your claims.

Yes, it's not very helpful because it is a tautology.

So, are you saying that consciousness = experience, that these are the same (i.e. have identical definitions)?

So, recognizing the logic above, (I thereby propose) a convenient classification / grouping of these experiences (these that make up our reality) to be internal, external, and memory. The internal are Feelings (emotions, pains, pleasures, urges, compulsions, instincts, etc.). The external is Awaren...

...life is not "Simple" and that no simple explanation will do, and is unworthy of the massive differences and complexities. Lev, before you discount the simplicity of life, let me ask you --- Do you agree that life (as we know it) is comprised of ONLY experiences? Or do you feel that the...

And you have not justified why consciousness is different from or distinct from, 'experiencing.' So then, let me ask --- How do you know you possess this "consciousness"? Do you ' experience ' it? Take Hume - he said that all experience is divisible into impressions and ideas. Wittgenstei...

A subjective experience means that I cannot know that even YOU can experience; it means that I can only know that I DO. Yes, agreed. But we can also safely assume that if other living things do experience then they would have to have the same physicality as ourselves to experience as we do. Ummm, I...

The Simple Explanation of Life Whether I am a human being, a blade of grass, or a single-cell organism, I experience sensations; I react to stimuli. This is ALL there is to Life. There is no other magic. The End. .. The End. I think you might have set off on the wrong foot. I'm not sure you can say...

The Simple Explanation of Life Whether I am a human being, a blade of grass, or a single-cell organism, I experience sensations; I react to stimuli. This is ALL there is to Life. There is no other magic. The End. Okay, a little more explanation… Experiences are the sensations or ‘felt reactions’ th...