Do you believe in reality?

[KUBINY]

bring it on i shant!
oh you know tax colectors... they believe in everything that has money! im pretty sure they see us all as walking dollars

thanks jenda for kindly participating! it really surprises me how everybody is so sure about themselves!
yeah right, and all hail to ZC

[Fin]

1.Yes.
2. Not applicable.
3. Yes. For two attempts at proofs (both convincing imo) see:
Descartes:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descart...osophical_work
and Dr Johnson:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr_Johnson
4. Not applicable.
5. Not applicable.

gl with the paper

[lesser double]

i think that we have our reality. however noone can either prove or disaprove these days that there isnt higher reality wich can kidna control our one or wich maybe just let us exists.

[BlackMagicWoman]

Originally Posted by KUBINY

I got a work that i have to do to school. I need to make a social study, and the theme i chose was: "Do people believe in reality?"
I need to ask at least 30 people in total and i want 10 of those to be EU players, as participants in a Virtual Universe might have a specific view on this. Ill give you 5 questions, and i want YES, NO or I DONT KNOW answers (for nitpickers, i didnt make a poll coz i need to ask more questions and didnt want to spam polls).
The questiond are:
1) Do you believe in reality? (not very tricky, i know)
2) If not, do you believe You exist?
3) If you do believe in reality, do you think you have proofs of your existence?
4) If you dont know whether you believe or not, have you ever tought about the question?
5) If you dont believe in reality, are you still afraid of death?

Thanks a bunch! please answer quickly! ...and please number the answers according to the questions...

If I could award the best, most interesting and most intriguing thread subject ever created on this forum, I would give that award to you.
Really hard questions to answer here...
I will give a NO/YES/I DONT KNOW version and some explanation for my choices.

1. No/I dont know. I tend to be a non-believer I could as simply say that "I cant believe my own eyes" Reality is not something clearly established and even dreams can be part of a reality. There are more than one realities too: my reality, yours and so on, everything seems to be our own mind's world.
2. As much as I am a non-believer I do tend to believe that I exist because everything that I come in interraction with (thoughts, sensations, etc) give me that impression. "I think therefore I am" was supposed to be a proof that I exist... I dont know that now and now I think that its still a matter of believing or not . So, YES/I DONT KNOW, but I am not sure
3. No/I dont know. The "I think therefore I am" from Descartes is not considered to be a valid proof anymore. Everything is just a matter of oppinion, of what you find most likely to believe in, but proofs, we cant really have...
4. I think I spent a lot of years of my life thinking about this even since I was a kid. My only results on the matter were to say for sure that I dont know anything YES
5. Yes, I fear death for a simple reason: I can say that I feel, that I think, that I am happy or sad (even if I am not sure that I do exist) because I sense all these things as an entity, as one individual and death would mean to take all that away from me. Anything with an illusion of existance, will have a fear of non-existance.

[MistyDawn]

Originally Posted by KUBINY

1) Do you believe in reality? (not very tricky, i know)
2) If not, do you believe You exist?
3) If you do believe in reality, do you think you have proofs of your existence?
4) If you dont know whether you believe or not, have you ever tought about the question?
5) If you dont believe in reality, are you still afraid of death?

1) No (your version of it) Yes (my version)
2) I exist but you do not
3) None at all, all 'evidence' is as much an illusion as this 'reality' is
4) Yes, often
5) No, I welcome so called 'death' It is an exit from this 'reality' taking me back to the real reality

[BlackMagicWoman]

Originally Posted by MistyDawn

1) No (your version of it) Yes (my version)
2) I exist but you do not
3) None at all, all 'evidence' is as much an illusion as this 'reality' is
4) Yes, often
5) No, I welcome so called 'death' It is an exit from this 'reality' taking me back to the real reality

are you a solipsist?

[LarsMac]

Originally Posted by KUBINY

I got a work that i have to do to school. I need to make a social study, and the theme i chose was: "Do people believe in reality?"
I need to ask at least 30 people in total and i want 10 of those to be EU players, as participants in a Virtual Universe might have a specific view on this. Ill give you 5 questions, and i want YES, NO or I DONT KNOW answers (for nitpickers, i didnt make a poll coz i need to ask more questions and didnt want to spam polls).
The questiond are:
1) Do you believe in reality? (not very tricky, i know)
2) If not, do you believe You exist?
3) If you do believe in reality, do you think you have proofs of your existence?
4) If you dont know whether you believe or not, have you ever tought about the question?
5) If you dont believe in reality, are you still afraid of death?

Thanks a bunch! please answer quickly! ...and please number the answers according to the questions...

1. Belief is for the lazy mind.
For me to believe in something, I must have a definition of that thing. Define reality. Then, I can answer your question.
I have a definition of reality that I believe in, but it is totally relevant to my frame of existence.
I may not believe in the reality that you define.

2. I know I exist, and therefore believe in myself.

3. Proof, however, is in the perception of me. I only exist to those who have encountered me and interacted with me. That interaction is proof that I exist, at least within the reality of those with whom I have interacted. To those with whom I have never interacted, my existence is at best, only theoretical.

4. Nope. Never thought about it.

5. No. At least not unless the probability of death is immediate. Then, I fear it enough to try and avoid it. So far, that has kept me alive.

Hope this helps.

[Fin]

I do hope you will post your teacher's comments on the paper

[BlackMagicWoman]

Originally Posted by Fin

I do hope you will post your teacher's comments on the paper

This is something that I study myself at a class called Philosophy of Mind. I can honestly say that this course changed my life and my perspective upon life and the universe. I think this is why I like the topic so much

[Dolores]

1) Do you believe in reality? (not very tricky, i know)
Yes, I look at it but I wonder though

2) If not, do you believe You exist?
Yes, I can make ppl smile, so..

3) If you do believe in reality, do you think you have proofs of your existence?
None

4) If you dont know whether you believe or not, have you ever tought about the question?
Yes, every morning when I look at my face

5) If you dont believe in reality, are you still afraid of death?
Yes aw! Death? it would kill me for real...