Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
Leonel Delgado
Mrs. OKeefe
English IV
May 30, 2017
Existence and how do we know what is real have been ideas of ours since the dawn of
time. No one ever knows what is real and what is a just a dream or an illusion. Many of us can
tell our own experiences of, for example, falling in a dream and waking up with our heart
pumping harder and faster than what we usually do, but what makes us feel like this dream is just
as real as what we feel in what we consider to be the real world? This question is the core to
philosophy in itself. Existence is expressed in two different ways from the Eastern Philosophers
and western. I will be exploring eastern philosophy as this version of philosophy will help guide
There have been many theories of proving existence; furthermore, the most common
concept anyone will mention is the statement I think, therefore I am by Descartes. This is false
as the beginning part of the statement I think assumes you already exist so because you think
you exist; however, you already do exist. This has been explained on how it is true by a man
named James Zucker through a Ted-Ed video I have watched. In this video, it was explained that
the philosopher, Ren Descartes, had created the concept, written in latin, Cogito ergo sum. As I
said, this means I think therefore I am. It is one of the most common phrases many try to use in
order to define the existence of man. In the Ted-Ed video, James Zucker explains to us you
cant be nothing if you think youre something, even if you think that something is nothing
because no matter what you think, youre a thinking thing (Zucker). He is summarizing the
point I think therefore I am. With this ideology being examined in depth, anyone can believe
that this is correct; however, the faults of this theory have been explained by myself, but I also
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know of another philosophy major named Mr. Carroll who explained that the Cartesian
Dichotomy essentially separates the mind from the body, as it is the thinking part that is.
In order to explain how one truly exists you must understand existence itself. We learn
through William F. Vallicella that another point in favor is that, in accounting for what it is for
contingent individual to exist, it at the same time accounts for why an contingent individual
exists (Vallicella 2). To summarize, while we try and figure out what we are, we also figure out
why we are. In the process of solving such an issue, we must solve for both as one question will
not be clear without the other being answered at the same time. We learn through him that the
existence of a thing is its sheer ontological presence, a presence that makes possible, and thus is
not to be confused with, its phenomenological presence (Vallicella 2). This is the most basic
understanding I could find of defining the idea of existence as a whole. To summarize the
know something is possible or real. Knowing this concept of what it means for something to
exist provides great insight as to how one must prove their existence. In proving existence, one
must know that everything around them is possible assuming the idea of existence is true.
What does it mean to truly exist? Well we need to know that our being is, in fact, real. We
need to assure that our being in this world is just as real the time and space itself. From
Knuuttila, S. & Hintikka, J., we are told The Platonic concept of Being is constituted not by a
fusion of copula and existence, but by the union of timeless-invariant Being (Hintikka and
Knuuttila 21). To explain this, understanding that the state of Being involves us to understand
that Being is timeless and must be real to allow for such being to even be considered real. Time
itself must be hand-in-hand with the state of Being because as time progresses, so do the beings
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that exist. We do not connect the word be and existence together as the two ideas must be
solved together rather than linking them to try and solve them as one. These ideas are very
different in that the word be assumes that the existence of one is, indeed, true. Then accepting
the idea of existence will also provide the proof that being is real; however, this is if you assume
the word be is true. Assuming any theories will give an idea where to start, however, any
concept created off of this will be flawed if you continue to assume that certain idea are true
My personal attempts in trying to prove I exist were during my sophomore year of high
school. My teacher at the time, Mr. Watkins, proposed this question to us and if we could answer
the question correctly, we were guaranteed an A in his class the entire year. The idea I put the
most effort in was the idea of purpose: there is a purpose to any and every thing that is around us
and because of this pre-existing purpose, we exist. I gave the example of a table and its purpose
to hold other items on top of it; furthermore, if the tables legs were to broken off, it can be used
as a skateboard or something in that fashion. Though it is no longer a table, it still serves the
purpose to hold something on top of it. Sadly, I was incorrect as he told me that the purpose of
certain human beings are never truly understood and are not even practiced. With us not knowing
When trying to answer the question on how you prove you exist you must accept the fact
that the idea of existence is real. Without it, there would be no such thing as a state of being.
Knowing that there is a concept of existence allows for us to be able to know there is a
possibility for the humanity we know to be considered real. And if the humanity we know is real,
then we are real ourselves. The idea of existence is the whole key to prove if one is real or not.
The famous words I think therefore I am will forever be the building blocks on the
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topic of existence. Though not correct, we can still build off the ideas presented to us and create
more theories that will help us understand what it means to exist and how exactly do we know if
we exist or not. To end, proving existence must also involve accepting the fact that there is such
Works Cited
Angelelli, Ignacio. "Frege Synthesized." Hintikka vs. Frege On The "Logic Of Being" (1986): n.
Pag.
Web.
<http://liberalarts.utexas.edu/_files/iaa4774/Hintikka_vs_Frege_on_the_Logic_of_Being.
pdf>.
Liberal
Arts & Sciences | The University of Iowa. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 May 2017
Geach, Peter, 1968, What Actually Exists, Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Supp. Vol.
42:
716.
"How Do You Know You Exist? - James Zucker." TED-Ed. Web. 19 May 2017.
Knuuttila, S. & Hintikka, J., 1986, The Logic of Being, Dordrecht: Reidel.
Kluwer