8 Great Philosophical Questions

[thyra]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

2. Is our universe real?

3. Do we have free will?

4. Does God exist?

5. Is there life after death?

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

7. What is the best moral system?

8. What are numbers?

So dont try to solve these

http://altering-pers...tions-that.html

Edited November 22, 2013 by thyra

[spud the mackem]

I shall answer these questions as I see them.

1.....There is something, or you wouldn't exist

2.....Yes

3.....Yes, I can tell the difference between right and wrong,and act accordingly.

4.....That depends on which God you support.

5....Stupid question, the answer is maybe,wait and see.

6....Yes.

7....Using your own judgement.

8....The difference between Humans and Animals,Only Humans use numbers.

[travelnjones]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing? - Nothing would be unobservable to ask the question implies an observer

2. Is our universe real? - Not to me it seems utterly false to the core.

3. Do we have free will? - Our illusion of free is so complete it is indistinguishable from real free will

4. Does God exist? Yes,

5. Is there life after death? I believe yes but I can rationally understand a complete end and it is terrifying

6. Can you really experience anything objectively? - Nope, other than our thoughts and emotions as they exist for a moment

7. What is the best moral system? - I like Leibniz idea of helping as long as it doesn't divert you from your path.

8. What are numbers? - Numbers are just the recognition of a useful sameness between objects. To count is to say these objects have a sameness i recognize. In this addition seems to be recognition of people planning for the same goal. Subtraction people leaving the community and food spoilage. Multiplication a basic form of community planning and division resource tracking.

This are just my thoughts

Edited November 22, 2013 by travelnjones

[Rlyeh]

Not sure what you mean by "8. What are numbers?", numbers are a mathematical concept used for counting or measuring some property.

[thyra]

these are not my questions. check the link in my first post

[Frank Merton]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

2. Is our universe real?

3. Do we have free will?

4. Does God exist?

5. Is there life after death?

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

7. What is the best moral system?

8. What are numbers?

So dont try to solve these

http://altering-pers...tions-that.html

1 Something happens now and then.

2 Real enough for our purposes

3 If I thought otherwise I wouldn't bother with this

4 No

5 More than likely no, but we will only find out if there is

6 Refer to question two

7 One you deduce from fundamental principles of love, compassion and empathy, with a dollop of having one's eyes wide open.

8. Yes we use them for counting and measuring, but more important we use them for calculating. I suspect they are our invention like language that we use to describe the mathematical notions we also invent and later find a use for.

[dlonewolf85]

these are not my questions. check the link in my first post

Okay, I'll just try to answer the first question: "Why is there something rather than nothing?". There is "something" because you and I and anybody else can perceive it; or maybe react to it. "Nothing" cannot be experienced, imagined, defined, described, or even understood, because logically 'nothing' would then become 'something'. For example, if a particular person or an animal is born blind, or maybe cannot distinguish different colors, then something that we call a rainbow is in essence, 'nothing' for that particular person or animal. That's not a very good example, but still I hope it illustrates my point.

Dude, I remember when philosophical questions used to be like "What is the meaning and the purpose of life?". I understand thyra, that these aren't your set of questions, but the rest of the questions aren't so great nor very philosophical, they just seem like random questions to me. No offence, I hope that my point gets across to you. Good thread btw. I wish you well.

[thyra]

I think the contrary, if you read the article you can see that that it is written by someone who knows a lot about philosophy and sums it up in such a good and efficent way with good references that can be given in such a short, pop article but to someone who has a little interest in philosophy it may sound absurd. We take the numbers for granted for example, only a very philosophically oriented mind would choose to question them Actually, you cant begin to ask the meaning and purpose of life without first elaborating on why we have "something" or without first thinking about if we can perceive anything objectively or you get lost pretty easily.

[spacecowboy342]

1. Nothing is inherently unstable

2. Seems pretty real to me

3. No

4. Define God

5. That one will be answered for us all one day. Personally I think not.

6. Yes

7. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

8. Symbols denoting quantities and ratios.

[Arpee]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

Because it is the nature of existence "to exist". If existence didn't exist, there would be no you to observe that there is nothing.

2. Is our universe real?

Yes. Can you deny your existence? You are a part of the universe. In order to question your existence you need to first exist. So yes, it is all real.

3. Do we have free will?

It depends on how you define free-will. If by "free" you mean "free of causation", then no. All of your "will" is chained as a reaction to other things that happened.

You can't want ice-cream unless you know what it is, unless you actually experienced that idea in your life.

Someone had to tell you about it, or you had to see it or taste it first. So the experience came first and the will of wanting it was an effect. It wasn't "free" will, but will that just happened as an effect of an action.

4. Does God exist?

It depends on how you define God. There is not enough information to answer this question.

5. Is there life after death?

It depends on how you define "life".

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

Yes, look at anything without thinking. That would make it objective, without subjective opinions. When others watch and do the same thing without adding thoughts and you both agree on what you seen it is objective.

Look at this word without thinking: LOVE. Objectively, we can all say that the word LOVE is what is shown. Even if you do not read English, you can still see the word and the shapes of the written word.

7. What is the best moral system?

Best, Better, and Good are all the same thing. "Best" is just a stronger form of "Better" and "Better" is a strong form of "Ok" or "Good".

In order to say there is a "best" moral system, you would already have to subscribe to a moral idea beforehand.

8. What are numbers?

They are ideas in order to identify sets of objects in reality.

[soulseeker]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

2. Is our universe real?

3. Do we have free will?

4. Does God exist?

5. Is there life after death?

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

7. What is the best moral system?

8. What are numbers?

So dont try to solve these

http://altering-pers...tions-that.html

1) because if there was nothing there could never be something but as long as their is something nothing can still exist

2) Yes and No... our universe is real as far as we can see perhaps it is not the only universe and as some of us cannot believe in such things as ghosts then perhaps those in these other universes do not believe in us making us NOT real and therefore our universe not real.

3) we have free will to a point we have the ability and right to make our own choices yet we are still boxed in by those choices....if all things were possible and time did not exists then yes our possibilities would be endless and we would have true and complete free will....ie: my will is to fly but since no one has figured out how to make people fly I cannot and therefore my will is not expressed.

4) IMO yes he does but he is not kept down by human restraints he or she can be anywhere anytime and everywhere always....unknowable but existing

5) No there is not life after death because you are dead .....it is possible to have an after life but that does not make you NOT dead.

6) No human mind can do anything objectively....emotions make us unable to have our minds open enough to ever actually EXPRENCE anything especially not objectively.

7) The one that leaves you guilt free.

8) an organizational system of symbols used in every language....also helpful with the sheep during those insomniac nights.

[StarMountainKid]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

2. Is our universe real?

3. Do we have free will?

4. Does God exist?

5. Is there life after death?

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

7. What is the best moral system?

8. What are numbers?

1. The evil Vulgarians who created our universe wonder about this, too. They think someone created their universe as well, and they've been busy tracing the geneology of generations of universes, hoping to discover the very first one, the original. When they find it they're eager to ask this question to the life-forms living there.

2. 'Real' is subjective, as our universe is a construct created by the Vulgarians. If it seems real to us, it's real enough.

3. No. Free will is an illusion of our conscious self. Our sub-conscious mind is doing the real decision making without consultng us. Doesn't seem fair, does it?

4. No...yes. Well, that question may finally be answered whenever the Vulgarians discover the original universe. We may never know, however, as the Vulgarians wil probably keep the answer to themselves out of spite.

5. It depends on the program the Vulgarians have devised for our universe.

6. Only when we forget all our ideas, concepts, memories, knowledge, experience...a sort of ignorance akin to what the mind is like after watching too much television.

7. The best moral system seems to be what's best for me. I think this is the universal moral consideration of most people.

8. Numbers are used by physicists to describe our universe, so they must be part of the fabric of existence. Mathematicians use numbers to describe more numbers. The rest of us just count things, especially what little money we may posess.

[spartan max2]

I like number 6. No we cant experience anything truly objectively because no matter what we are reasoning it out through our 5 sense and our brains which can only go off of things that it has experienced before(for example try to imagine a new color).

[flbrnt]

Before you can answer number 2 you have to define what you mean by "real".

[Leonardo]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

Because only something can define nothing.

2. Is our universe real?

I think, therefore I am. I exist, and in existing I know there is something within which I exist. This is the universe. I cannot know what it is beyond my perception of it, but I know it exists.

3. Do we have free will?

That depends on the nature of the universe - and the answer to the next question. If the universe is aboslutely deterministic, then it's possible free will does not truly exist.

4. Does God exist?

As has already been asked, define God.

5. Is there life after death?

Is there death after life?

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

Yes. You experience yourself objectively.

7. What is the best moral system?

I agree with the "Do unto others" spacecowboy proposed.

8. What are numbers?

Symbolic representations of quantity.

Edited December 5, 2013 by Leonardo

[Frank Merton]

There is free will; we get confused by the staff sergeants in the subconscious telling the captains and so on in the conscious what to do, since sergeants are rarely wrong, but sometimes the captains and so on overrule them just to have the pleasure of overruling them.

[Skep B]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

Less boring that way

2. Is our universe real?

No, but it is a perfect simulation of the actual universe where we all do teh same things exactly as we do them here

3. Do we have free will?

If we choose to

4. Does God exist?

haven't asked him

5. Is there life after death?

Sure, theres life all over the place after you die

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

Depends how you look at it

7. What is the best moral system?

Depends on your values

8. What are numbers?

Letters that don't make sounds

[ReaperS_ParadoX]

EH

[spacecowboy342]

There is free will; we get confused by the staff sergeants in the subconscious telling the captains and so on in the conscious what to do, since sergeants are rarely wrong, but sometimes the captains and so on overrule them just to have the pleasure of overruling them.

No we are ruled by the configuration of the neural net. There is a sort of "feedback loop" that can reconfigure the neural net as we learn from experience so we may have a limited form of free will but mostly we are products of our genetics and experience

[Frank Merton]

No we are ruled by the configuration of the neural net. There is a sort of "feedback loop" that can reconfigure the neural net as we learn from experience so we may have a limited form of free will but mostly we are products of our genetics and experience

Quite so; I didn't say we have free will all the time; it is in fact rarely exercised and for the most part we are better off not exercising it.

[spacecowboy342]

Quite so; I didn't say we have free will all the time; it is in fact rarely exercised and for the most part we are better off not exercising it.

It's not our fault we don't exercise it much. That's the way we're programmed

[Harte]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

Because something, it turns out, is less expensive.

2. Is our universe real?

Well, it's real estate.

3. Do we have free will?

No, but we have Free Willy.

4. Does God exist?

Have you been struck by lightning?

5. Is there life after death?

If you run the film backwards. Try it, it's a hoot.

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

No, but you can experience many things involving objects.

7. What is the best moral system?

The one the victors impose.

8. What are numbers?

Those things preceding each of your questions.

So dont try to solve these

That would really be something universally and objectively moral, should anyone willingly and before their personal extinction be able to ennumerate the answers to your divine questions.

Harte

[Professor T]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

Nothing is unlimited potential, that is something..

2. Is our universe real?

Yep. As real as you allow yourself to perceive it.

3. Do we have free will?

Spiritually.. yes. Logically, no..

4. Does God exist?

yep. make it happen!.

5. Is there life after death?

yep. none of us would be here if that were the case.

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

Part of you does this every day.. Just ask yourself, "Who is listening to this thought?", and the answer should be evident.

7. What is the best moral system?

Balance.

8. What are numbers?

UOM's. Units of Measure.

[White Crane Feather]

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?

2. Is our universe real?

3. Do we have free will?

4. Does God exist?

5. Is there life after death?

6. Can you really experience anything objectively?

7. What is the best moral system?

8. What are numbers?

So dont try to solve these

http://altering-pers...tions-that.html

1) Because there is no such thing as nothing.

2) real enough to ask if it is real

3) yes ultimately the universe is fuzzy not a machine choice marking is an emergent property of conciousness

4) yes if something like a mega consciousness does not exist then it will which means it probably already does

5) yes. We have good evidence that it does.

6)no. Certainly things objectively exist but we are brains in vats

7) do onto others as you would have them do onto you ..... live and let live.

8) numbers are abstract constructs used to represent units of something.

Edited December 11, 2013 by White Crane Feather

[Leonardo]

5) yes. We have good evidence that it does.

As an answer to "Is there life after death?", I find this unsatisfactory.

What is death except the cessation of life? So, the answer to "Is there life after death?" must always be "No."

Unless you wish to redefine life, in which case you also have to redefine death.