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Questions tagged [existence]

Ontological and metaphysical questions about the study of existence, being and the structure of reality.

418 questions
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If you place a pencil in an opaque box and close the box, does the pencil exist?

I’m trying to explain to my friends about things existing. I gave them this question: if you place a pencil in an opaque box and close the box, does the pencil exist? They say yes and I ask how do they know and why. All they come up with is “because…
Xavier Moody-Wusik
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Why do things have a front and a back?

This question was asked by my three year old niece and I couldn't think of a good answer.
Ronan Cremin
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14
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Proving that man is not born with certain skills?

I was arguing with my father about the nature of the human mind. I believe that a man is not born with a predetermined skill, such as painter or composer, and that through hard work and dedication, a man can learn to be just as great as Beethoven or…
bitmoe
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Does anything you can think of exist?

Descartes famously says "I think therefore I am." Does it follow that anything I can think of exists?
LeoW.
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Is the universe just a mathematical construct?

Consider some continuous mathematical function. You can define it as a set of initial conditions and a set of rules to extend it to the rest of its domain. For instance, for a linear function, y = mx + b, "b" would be the initial condition and "mx"…
Farhad
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What is existence and what kinds of it can be distinguished?

Existence, for instance of a human being, need not be restricted to the material body. Also the influence exerted on the environment can be considered a part of their existence. A discussion with Conifold has made me think that there are at least…
Hilbert7
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Axioms of change and time?

Listening to the audio version of objectivism by L. Pekoff for the second time, and I am so distracted by one thought I am finding it impossible to proceed. Existence, consciousness and identity, all correct but no mention of change, therefore…
David
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Because nothing exists, nothing also does not exist

Because nothing exists, nothing also does not exist. If you look at nothing as the opposite of something. The existence of one requires the existence of the other. But since one explicitly says it is nothing i.e. does not exist. That should also…
DisplayName
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Is the Simulation Argument compatible with the proposition that physical entities have finite information content?

I recently learned of the Simulation Argument, which attempts to show that one of three statements is very likely true, paraphrasing: Civilizations are unlikely to ever be able to simulate realities. Civilizations that are able to simulate…
Aaron Golden
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The inability to imagine general nonexistence

After reading the question regarding "Why is there something instead of nothing?" I stumbled over the first part of "Sauls" answer: Before anything else one should be aware of the instrument used to answer questions. That instrument is human…
print x div 0
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What is the origin of the idea of `set of everything`?

Recently I have come to an idea. It is not hard to come to so it should have been talked about by others before. But after some digging in Wikiepedia it soon become out of my reach with zero philophical background. So I put it in this question and…
jw_
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Where do things come from?

Nothing is...not for long anyway.Everything is in a state of flux and this implies that every object has a story behind it.However,the possible options for stories of origin are not satisfactory: 1.We can trace the origin of an object back to some…
Nualpha Omegam
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What theory suggests that the world is an illusion?

I recently had a conversation wih a man who thought that nothing actually exists. He believed that we are only imagining everything and thus are the product of some kind of illusion. Could you suggest what theory he was mentioning so that I can…
Ava
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How can someone infer something does not exist?

First, I came across the Penrose triangle and then a variety of impossible objects. I understand that an object might not exist in a specific domain. For example, Penrose triangle does not exist in 3 dimensional Euclidean space. However, I have…
MOON
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Would matter without any living individual also exist?

Suppose that everything that is considered as living individual suddenly dies out. What would happen to matter if now there is nobody who can think about it?
sitems
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