Does anything exist?

[Scorpion]

I had a dream last night in which I was having a discussion with my ex philosophy teacher. She said nothing exists and gave the name of a philosopher as a reference to that viewpoint. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name.
Does anyone know of a philosopher who held that view?

I said in the dream, I exist because I think therefore I am, and my mind is not capable of creating all that I perceive. But I do believe that Gods mind is capable of sustaining creation and the laws of physics that support everything we observe. However everything is an illusion, and it is not what it appears to be to our senses.

 

[Guybrush Threepwood]

Whoa man, thats deep! You don't have anything to eat round here do you? I'm really hungry for some reason.

 

[Monica 56]

In the same vein -- idle thoughts which will take you precisely nowhere .

Ponder the thought that using ideas like the Uncertainty principle and Quantum Strangeness , you are everywhere and therefore anywhere at the same instant .

You are omnipresent .
You are the Universe .

Except for those bits that I am deeply allergic to .

 

[a_unique_person]

Elementary particles are mostly empty space.

The Atom is mostly empty space.
Matter is mostly empty space.

The Solar system is mostly empty space.
The galaxy is mostly empty space
The Universe is mostly empty space.


So, mostly, nothing exists.

 

[Bikewer]

But that mostly-empty-space brick still hurts like hell if it falls on your head....

 

[Belz...]

I had a dream last night in which I was having a discussion with my ex philosophy teacher. She said nothing exists and gave the name of a philosopher as a reference to that viewpoint. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name.
Does anyone know of a philosopher who held that view?

I said in the dream, I exist because I think therefore I am, and my mind is not capable of creating all that I perceive. But I do believe that Gods mind is capable of sustaining creation and the laws of physics that support everything we observe. However everything is an illusion, and it is not what it appears to be to our senses.

You're still arguing that something exists. It's in fact impossible not to.

 

[Belz...]

Elementary particles are mostly empty space.

The Atom is mostly empty space.
Matter is mostly empty space.

The Solar system is mostly empty space.
The galaxy is mostly empty space
The Universe is mostly empty space.


So, mostly, nothing exists.

Where 'nothing' includes a large number of quantum fluctuations and virtual particles.

 

[Scorpion]

But that mostly-empty-space brick still hurts like hell if it falls on your head....

Actually pain is nothing but an electrical signal sent up the nerves to the brain which interprets it as pain. Some yoga masters can overcome pain, as can be seen by Buddhists monks who immolated themselves in petrol in protest at war. They overcame the pain sufficiently to sit quietly in the lotus position while they burnt to death. Ordinary humans would have screamed and writhed about.

 

[Belz...]

Actually pain is nothing but an electrical signal sent up the nerves to the brain which interprets it as pain.

That's what he said: it hurts like hell.

Some yoga masters can overcome pain, as can be seen by Buddhists monks who immolated themselves in petrol in protest at war.

They didn't overcome the pain. They did their best to ignore it. It was still there.

 

[bruto]

Gorgias the Sophist, perhaps.

If nothing existed, who or what would know it? One can say in all sorts of ways that things don't exist as we think they do, and that the material world does not exist as we think it does, but if it were true that nothing at all exists there truly would be no there there.

Even to speak of nonexistence requires that existence exists.

 

[Carrot Flower King]

I know, Sir! Me, Sir!

Is it if a one-handed pope falls over a koan in a wood you can hear a bear **** in the Vatican?

Is it that one?

 

[Crossbow]

I had a dream last night in which I was having a discussion with my ex philosophy teacher. She said nothing exists and gave the name of a philosopher as a reference to that viewpoint. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name.
Does anyone know of a philosopher who held that view?

I said in the dream, I exist because I think therefore I am, and my mind is not capable of creating all that I perceive. But I do believe that Gods mind is capable of sustaining creation and the laws of physics that support everything we observe. However everything is an illusion, and it is not what it appears to be to our senses.

There is school of thought which essentially teaches that the reality we see is not reality at all.

However, even if this is the case, then we still have to live now as if the reality we constantly experience is actual reality.

 

[sackett]

As the monks labored to build a wall, the Master, sitting and watching, said, " All experience is illusion."

A monk turned and bounced a brick off the Master's head. The Master cried, "You son of a bitch, why'd you do that?"

The monk cupped his ear to listen, and said, "I am experiencing the illusion of the Master's distress."

The other monks laughed. The Master stood up and cried, "That's it, you're all off the payroll! Pack yer goddamn monk-gear and catch the next train outa here!"

The monks experienced the illusion of drawing unemployment checks. The wall remains unfinished and may be seen to this day. In case you don't believe me.

 

[JoeMorgue]

And the fact that this kind of absurdity gets even .000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% more respect when it's phrased as "Philosophy" is why I increasingly hate the concept.

 

[Monica 56]

Where 'nothing' includes a large number of quantum fluctuations and virtual particles.

A lot of very smart people argue that so called empty space is replete in energy and this will act as the springboard for our next technological jump .
Naturally those whose money and power is built on more conventional power and propulsion sources will do everything and more to ensure a smooth transition to this new level when it suits and profits them and only them .

 

[Thermal]

If we're going to do Brain-in-Vat and The Matrix, can we at least get some stoned teenage hotties all up in here? We had some the last time I did this.

And re: "mostly nothing": just shows how power packed particles are. A little goes a long way.

 

[abaddon]

And the fact that this kind of absurdity gets even .000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001% more respect when it's phrased as "Philosophy" is why I increasingly hate the concept.

Agreed.

Philosophy is useful in and of itself. But when it wanders into territory that anyone can claim anything with equal validity? That is when it falls off a cliff.

Reality does not care much about how hard anyone can stare at their own navel.

What is the point of all that nonsense? Even the most ardent adherents of such bovine ideas still put one leg in each trew in the morning, every morning. If such wastes of space really believed any of that crapfest, they could simply imagine that they put clothes on in the first place and it would be true, somehow.

What amuses me is that such folks think that "reality" is merely an illusion. Yet somehow they cannot fight reality, because reality actually does not care what any nob end may invent out of a fevered imagination. It just keeps on going regardless.

One could test this. If the woo merchant is so convinced of this, one could blindfold them and send them forth across a busy freeway. Will they get to the other side? You will find none willing to take that challenge (and I would not ask it). The point is that they do not believe their own baloney.

 

[Apathia]

According to the Lankavatara Sutra, all discussion about the reality of reality is discussion of the unreality of reality. All discussion of the unreality of reality is discussion of the reality of reality.

Frail on his feet, the elderly Bodhidharma held up his cane, "Quickly, tell me about the reality of this stick! If you say it's real, I'll strike you with it! If you say it's unreal, I'll strike you with it!"

The student answered, "Master, please bring your cane down and lean on it before you fall."

Bodhidharma nodded "Yes!"

 

[Belz...]

A lot of very smart people argue that so called empty space is replete in energy and this will act as the springboard for our next technological jump .
Naturally those whose money and power is built on more conventional power and propulsion sources will do everything and more to ensure a smooth transition to this new level when it suits and profits them and only them .

You're not making sense. If this new source of energy existed, those with money and power would jump at the opportunity for a new market.

You are also off topic.

 

[theprestige]

Better question: What is the actual topic of the thread? The question in the title, or the question in the OP?