8 Great Philosophical Questions That We’ll Never Solve

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Young_Chitlin
Young_Chitlin Members Posts: 23,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited September 2012 in The Social Lounge
http://io9.com/5945801/8-philosophical-questions-that-well-never-solve

1. Why is there something rather than nothing?
2. Is our universe real?
3. Do we have free will?
4. Does ? exist?
5. Is there life after death?
6. Can you really experience anything objectively?
7. What is the best moral system?
8. What are numbers?

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  • ohhhla
    ohhhla Members Posts: 10,341 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    Lol@agnostics are right.

    When agnostic is not answering the question whether you believe in a ? or not.
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  • ra-mes1
    ra-mes1 Members Posts: 420 ✭✭
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    We exist...but as what? We could be a figment of some other being's imagination, like part of a reoccurring dream. So then another question, really, is "what is existence/what does it mean to exist?"
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  • ra-mes1
    ra-mes1 Members Posts: 420 ✭✭
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    BTW, for anyone religious who comes and says "these are questions that only ? can answer," I am not atheist or agnostic by any stretch of the imagination. However, "let us make Man in OUR own image" is not a physical reference...it's a metaphysical one. We are supposed to ask these questions in order to bring us closer to our Creator and the Universe and discover/manifest the purpose in all things. Everything else is secondary save living with the same Love that Most High shows us through the beauty of creation itself, and having the ability to think/perceive, feel, taste, enjoy life etc.
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  • ra-mes1
    ra-mes1 Members Posts: 420 ✭✭
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    On another note:

    1) Trick question. Everything is something. Even empty space is a form of energy/matter.
    2) What is "real?" Most of our bodies are actually empty space in between electrons and nuclei. Real only goes as far as our ability to perceive, which varies from person to person...or even species to species.
    3) We have free will the same way animals in a huge nature preserve have free range. There is a limit to what we can do and to what we can resist, but how far we push those limits depends on the individual
    4) I would say so....only question is "in what form" ...I have often wondered if what we think of us the Most High, grand creator, all powerful force and intelligence in the universe is really really just part of a wider network of purposeful creation. What if our "? " is like a middle child in a family of 12 kids?
    5) No life after death. LIfe with and without physical form.
    6) No. Our experiences always shape our perceptions. The key is to be aware of it and use empathy to consider the positions/opinions of others in our decision making
    7) See #6 ...no such thing as "best." What determines something worth for me largely has to do with how well or how much a set of values strengthens the human condition and expresses love in action and not selfishness.
    8) All science and math are an expression of Man creating a system of discovering ? and/or Meaning in some way, shape or form...so numbers are basically tools used for us to create order out of everything....since "everything is something."
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  • Plutarch
    Plutarch Members Posts: 3,239 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2012
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    ra-mes1 wrote: »
    BTW, for anyone religious who comes and says "these are questions that only ? can answer," I am not atheist or agnostic by any stretch of the imagination. However, "let us make Man in OUR own image" is not a physical reference...it's a metaphysical one. We are supposed to ask these questions in order to bring us closer to our Creator and the Universe and discover/manifest the purpose in all things. Everything else is secondary save living with the same Love that Most High shows us through the beauty of creation itself, and having the ability to think/perceive, feel, taste, enjoy life etc.

    I think that I understand what you're saying, and I agree. Nevertheless, I still think that that's walking a thin line. As humans, we have to accept our limits and accept the fact that these limits are entirely inherent and hopeless to overcome. Without this true understanding, our arrogance and pride will surely destroy us. Or at least drive us insane. Man cannot and will not be ? and cannot know absolute truth, so that should never be a desirable goal for mankind.

    It's complicated because at the same time I also advocate humanism and libertarianism. I think humans should empower themselves and seek as much knowledge and enjoy as much freedom as they can. But to do so in moderation. I love freedom and knowledge, but too much of each is deadly.
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  • Plutarch
    Plutarch Members Posts: 3,239 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited September 2012
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    ra-mes1 wrote: »
    On another note:

    1) Trick question. Everything is something. Even empty space is a form of energy/matter.
    2) What is "real?" Most of our bodies are actually empty space in between electrons and nuclei. Real only goes as far as our ability to perceive, which varies from person to person...or even species to species.
    3) We have free will the same way animals in a huge nature preserve have free range. There is a limit to what we can do and to what we can resist, but how far we push those limits depends on the individual
    4) I would say so....only question is "in what form" ...I have often wondered if what we think of us the Most High, grand creator, all powerful force and intelligence in the universe is really really just part of a wider network of purposeful creation. What if our "? " is like a middle child in a family of 12 kids?
    5) No life after death. LIfe with and without physical form.
    6) No. Our experiences always shape our perceptions. The key is to be aware of it and use empathy to consider the positions/opinions of others in our decision making
    7) See #6 ...no such thing as "best." What determines something worth for me largely has to do with how well or how much a set of values strengthens the human condition and expresses love in action and not selfishness.
    8) All science and math are an expression of Man creating a system of discovering ? and/or Meaning in some way, shape or form...so numbers are basically tools used for us to create order out of everything....since "everything is something."

    interesting. and i mostly agree on all points.

    as for 4, it's interesting how patterns exist in the world, like the physical resemblence between the "universe" and a "standard" brain cell. i don't know if there's anything to make out of it though, but it makes you think about small pictures within bigger pictures.

    as for 7, even though I believe in "general truths," I never have and never will believe in universal or absolute truths. If they do exist, I don't think that humans can truly comprehend them. I think that's where the power of faith kicks in.
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  • ra-mes1
    ra-mes1 Members Posts: 420 ✭✭
    edited September 2012
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    interesting. and i mostly agree on all points.

    as for 4, it's interesting how patterns exist in the world, like the physical resemblence between the "universe" and a "standard" brain cell. i don't know if there's anything to make out of it though, but it makes you think about small pictures within bigger pictures.

    as for 7, even though I believe in "general truths," I never have and never will believe in universal or absolute truths. If they do exist, I don't think that humans can truly comprehend them. I think that's where the power of faith kicks in.






    I don't believe in absolute anything, because nothing is absolute ... Not space, not time. All existence depends on the condition of something else in order to stay in balance. The same goes for human morality, rules, emotions, law etc.

    As far as the search for knowledge, I agree...the only way to "know everything" is to bypass our built-in filters. Those are the people that end up walking the desert or wandering around....or who just stop eating and meditate all day. You can't function in "normal" human society and make the pursuit of the laws of the universe your only (or overwhelming) goal because it automatically isolates you.
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  • 2stepz_ahead
    2stepz_ahead Guests, Members, Writer, Content Producer Posts: 32,324 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    how come a mirror reflects from left to right and not up and down.

    if anti-matter destroys matter then will we all die when we see the great anti-matter cloud in the sky?
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  • supYo
    supYo Members Posts: 5,790 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    can sickness clean ur sins?

    why is everyone being blind to the last sure of the quaran n dont wanna accept whats written there ? damned....stop being so stupid...everyone should know mohammad was evil himself...he himself said he feels like the devil...its like osama reading quararn n makin up his own mind to it...the words writtin there are NOT coming from an angel...its dschiins...devils cuzzos...magical power

    is this life anything like the life after?

    will i chill with 2pac n nate dogg?

    have humans n dinos all that have lived b4?

    the how much life is that?

    when this world ends, n we up there somewhere n the world goes under a again, what happens then?

    complety blackout? new angels?

    the wind is so fresh

    ? is there but will he give us our blood the tragic end with the sun exploding

    or what disease will ? us?

    how is it possible that we can operate a pigs heart into a humans body? HOW?

    is it a sin to be a nasty peep? reincarnation, please no pig

    love it when the wind blows ur hair tho

    why are we humen so bad? money talkin

    jean the baptised...u destroyed much














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  • ra-mes1
    ra-mes1 Members Posts: 420 ✭✭
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    A pig's heart can go into a human body because we're not that anatomically different than they are. Not first choice, but I'd rather have a pork heart than none (and I'm vegetarian). Can't cleanse if you're dead.
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  • supYo
    supYo Members Posts: 5,790 ✭✭✭✭✭
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    yea i know thats makes it even more ? up...our flesh, not the flesh but the white over it dont know the world in the stomache is just like ours...? disgusting

    i just gotta say this again

    in quaran there stands human will get reborned as monkey n pigs

    i mean think about it...he had no idea of it back then all this was discoverd later

    n to the last sure of the quaran...i mean i feel this but this is givin me headache

    i search 4 help from the man of the morning dawn
    n for everything bad HE has created
    n for the bad of the night when its getting dark
    n 4 the bad the magistic bitchez(not like that)but magistic
    n 4 the hater, when hes haiting

    this is confusing n the devil is known 4 confusing

    i mean its realness but it aint go(o)d
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  • unspoken_respect
    unspoken_respect Members Posts: 9,821 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited October 2012
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    Young_Chitlin wrote: »
    http://io9.com/5945801/8-philosophical-questions-that-well-never-solve

    1. Why is there something rather than nothing?
    2. Is our universe real?
    3. Do we have free will?
    4. Does ? exist?
    5. Is there life after death?
    6. Can you really experience anything objectively?
    7. What is the best moral system?
    8. What are numbers?

    I think the first question is the greatest question of all questions ever asked.
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  • ChromaStoned
    ChromaStoned Members Posts: 938 ✭✭✭
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    1. but nothing is still something-the lack of anything
    2. as real as our minds believe it to be
    3. no
    4. first who or what is ?
    5. more life after life?
    6. only if you can escape the confinments of your own mind
    7. do unto others
    8. images
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