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The nature of proof?

DeletedUser

So, I remember reading in my philosophy book about the nature of proof. I skipped it, thinking "I'll read it later" - obviously not because I'm a slacker - and so I thought, "hey, I'll just ask about what you think of the nature of proof in the debate hall".

I guess whatever the nature of proof is, it would need to logically lead to a solution for a proof problem. For example; "An apple is placed on a table you are sitting at in an otherwise empty and isolated room. Prove the apple exists."

Seems pretty hard.
 

DeletedUser

Starting from the premise that if it were not stated as being there, there would be no proof that the room exists. There is no proof that the room or table or apple exists since the room is isolated and unseen. If the room did not exist it follows that the table and apple needn't either. The statement says you are sitting in the room, which must therefore exist, at a table which must therefore exist on which an apple is placed which must therefore exist. By being there and seeing, feeling and touching the apple, identifying it as such, you have proved to yourself that the apple exists. The proof of the apple is in the eating.

That's my take on it.
 

DeletedUser6172

To Be is To Do - Aristotle
To Do is to Be - Sartre
Do Be Do Be Do - Sinatra
 

DeletedUser

In introduction to critical thinking using scientific proof although even facts are only half facts with a life of about 40 years when a fact will be disproven by another proof, science having progressed, rather than the theory of philosophical proof which I find a really mind blowingly difficult subject due to the infinity of existence and complexities of the brain.
 
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DeletedUser2193

He does not exist, the table does not exist, the apple does not exist, only the statement of he, apple, table exists, the room is empty and isolated. The concept exists abstractly, but not in the material world.
 

DeletedUser6172

There's some very interesting research, driven largely by the biologists, regarding emergence and self-organizing systems.

The essential concept is you may not NEED a concept. :laugh: Complex behaviors, quite literally bootstrap themselves. Take a look at http://www.informatics.indiana.edu/rocha/i-bic/lec04.html for a quick introduction to the concept, and a quick Amazon search will yield several recent books on the subject of Emergence. It's very bleeding edge.
 

DeletedUser13452

What your really asking is proof that you exist. This sort of philosophical discussion is pointless. It's strictly for the wise man on the mountain. You cannot prove anything until you accept that YOU exist.
 

DeletedUser6172

Does your forum avatar exist?

Does your in-game avatar exist?

It's not a trivial question, even if it's sort of a dumb question.
As a useful definition, if something influences other similar things it may be said that it exists.

That's what made tracking down the Higgs Boson so interesting. They WERE trying to demonstrate that "something" was interacting with other particles, and therefore existed.

How about the entire question of fictional characters, like in a book. Do they exist?
 
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