Philosophical Thread

[Liverslapper]

The world was only a small planet in space. But where did space come from? could anything have always existed? Surely everything that exists must have had a beginning?

As some point, something must have come from nothing....but what about god himself?

Even though God could create all kinds of things, he could hardly create himself before he had a "self" to create with.

So saying this... do you feel right living in the world without at least inquiring where it came from?



Discuss

 

[Captain Beard]

I did inquire, and still do, as the scientific method and my own curiosity says I should. But I don't use mysticism and shadows as an excuse. That's all I have to say on it and will say no more.

 

[Shpongled]

Yes, because the reality is that we are here. The only thing that we can be sure of is that we do exist. There may never be any way to clearly prove how humanity and life came to be, so I choose to base my life around the things I know for sure. I am not sure about God. In fact the whole concept of God and religion seems to me like a crutch for people that are concerned with what happens to them after they die. That's another thing no one will ever know for sure; what happens when we die. I choose not to waste time concerning myself with that when I've got a perfectly good life that needs to be lived and my mind could be occupied with things I consider more important.

I'm fine with other people's beliefs, because that's another reality... that people are going to feel differently about certain things than I do.

I can easily live my life without knowing how everything came to be because I believe we'll never know the 100% truth of it all. It could be discovered someday, but I don't know how it would be possible. I'm definitely open to hearing theories though, however it'd be pretty freakin' hard to convince me of anything different from what I already believe.

 

[derek]

I'd say you're on to one of those perennial problems of philosophy. Answering it depends on your philosophical stance. Arguably even the notion that there had to be a "something from nothing" comes only from the poverty of your imagination. Existentionalists will answer it differently than platonists (who differ from neo-platonists!) believers of causation, ontology, teleology will differ again, in short, philosophy will probably raise more questions than answers.

The best philosophers are novelists, Camus being my personal favourite. It's all absurd, stop looking for answers, but whatever you do don't lapse into nihilism!

.

 

[Captain Beard]

I want to punch all the nihilists in the balls. Then I'd remind them that they shouldn't do anything about it because it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[derek]

Indeed. I don't have much time for nihilism. I think it's a lazy response to absurdism.

 

[Shpongled]

One of my favorite quotes of all time:

"I have the faith that it is possible, sometime, somewhere, to have a conversation, perhaps no progress will be made until the ninth hour, but to have a conversation in which reality could be literally pulled to pieces, beyond the point of reconstructing." - Terence McKenna

 

[derek]

Yep, Terence is a great loss.

 

[Liverslapper]

yep, each person has to discover his or her own answer to many of the same questions. for me, i can't come up with a conclusion to find out whether there is a god or whether there is life or death just by reading a book, i learn from what other people have to believe and can help me formulate my own view. I love to wonder about things, which is why i like this quote,

"The only thing we require to be good philosophers is the faculty of wonder" - Jostein Gaarder


and kevin i think you are right, reality is now, why go on with life pondering about questions that, more then likley, won't ever get answered? We will never know what happens after you die, never know most of these philosophical questions about the creation of something from nothing..
you say

"people are going to feel differently about certain things than I do."

of course..many people will feel differently about many things then you do, w hich is why i love to hear them. I happen to be a gamer, i acnnot expect everyone else to share my enthusiasm...if i play a bunch of games with great pleasure, i know that i must put up with the fact that other people find games probably boring as hell.

and david i do believe that there was a sort of scientific things but not what and how we became to be/

Evolution is the orgin of 1st life which teaches spontaneous generation...However, spontaneous generation violates the law of biogenesis and the cell theory, which is "all living things arise only from other living things." I wish you would say more David, but i understand if you don't want to, im just a curious fucka.

 

[Morganna]

I have decided a long time ago that I will find out when I get there. I have always had major trust issues with other people telling me that they know the answers to these questions. Seeing how human nature is, I don't even trust myself to come up with these answers. It would all be a guessing game.

I will find out when I die, and be ok with those answers. Until then there is today, and to live by my own principles that I know come from my heart.

 

[Liverslapper]

True derek, its all absurd, people won't stop looking for the answers, but it's worth discussing and thinking about. I'll start another topic later

 

[Phoenix5]

The world was only a small planet in space. But where did space come from? could anything have always existed? Surely everything that exists must have had a beginning?

As some point, something must have come from nothing....but what about god himself?

Even though God could create all kinds of things, he could hardly create himself before he had a "self" to create with.

So saying this... do you feel right living in the world without at least inquiring where it came from?



Discuss

How do we know anything really exists?

Does anything really matter in the entire scheme of things?

In the end nothing will be alive, so what is the point of life any ways?

We should all be Nihilists.

 

[Lord Foul]

We should all be Nihilists.

This statement is inherently self-contradicting.

 

[Cat5Messiah]

Of all the theories of where we came from, none can explain HOW it came to be. Well, it can be explained how we came to be but at the same time, it can't be fully explained.

For example, alike mentioned above, the Big Bang theory. Sure, the universe (this universe) was "created" by matter so dense that when the matter collided, it created the expanding universe we live in. But where did that matter come from? That's what completely boggles my mind (and others') is the fact that we can have a theory on how the universe was created but how its ingredients existed is still a mystery. Well, this is what they hope to explain in Geneva when/if they find the Hoggs boson (God particle).

There are so many ways to perceive who we are and where we are from. There are so many theories based off of other theories including String Theory, multi-dimensional universes/parallel universes and even holographic universes. I have beliefs on why we're here on a spiritual level (spiritual, not religion-based) but that still doesn't explain HOW we're here. At this point in our evolution we still cannot explain it but quite honestly, I think we are very close to unlocking the secrets of our universe.

 

[WhiteBeastofWotan]

I dunno about my purpose, but I'm pretty sure you're all on this planet to SUCK MY COCK

 

[Cat5Messiah]

no u

 

[Liverslapper]

How do we know anything really exists?

Does anything really matter in the entire scheme of things?

In the end nothing will be alive, so what is the point of life any ways?

We should all be gay together in harmony

How do we know if anything really exists? 1st ask yourself "What is real?"

of course in the end nothing will be alive, the point of life is to live it, adults take "the world" for granted....babies and philosophers kinda border the same line.

if a baby were able to speak when it comes out of the womb, what do you think it would say? probably looking around, wondering what is everything and what a strange world this is...if a baby see's a dog it would say "bow-wow" and is totally amused at the creature...though if an adult were to walk by they would think "ah just an ordinary dog...nothin special". I agree with kev and shannon though, live life now, its all we can do, but i still ponder the questions of how we are able to live in a world, not knowing where it came from, and live it without even questioning it.

and the being gay together thing.....is hawt. hahaha

 

[Liverslapper]

Of all the theories of where we came from, none can explain HOW it came to be. Well, it can be explained how we came to be but at the same time, it can't be fully explained.

For example, alike mentioned above, the Big Bang theory. Sure, the universe (this universe) was "created" by matter so dense that when the matter collided, it created the expanding universe we live in. But where did that matter come from? That's what completely boggles my mind (and others') is the fact that we can have a theory on how the universe was created but how its ingredients existed is still a mystery. Well, this is what they hope to explain in Geneva when/if they find the Hoggs boson (God particle).

There are so many ways to perceive who we are and where we are from. There are so many theories based off of other theories including String Theory, multi-dimensional universes/parallel universes and even holographic universes. I have beliefs on why we're here on a spiritual level (spiritual, not religion-based) but that still doesn't explain HOW we're here. At this point in our evolution we still cannot explain it but quite honestly, I think we are very close to unlocking the secrets of our universe.

Agree, tons of different theories, origin scientific methods. But, we will never know, which doesn't mean we just need to stop thinking about it. I learn more and more about these things, the questions regarding faith....hope....life...politics...morality (in which this case, Friedrich Nietzsche has an amazing book about, and his other book about "The Death of God" called "The Gay Science" which i own and will eventually read again.) and i enjoy it a lot, its very interesting.

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

the only thing that we can be sure of is that we do exist.

philosophy 101 error. prove that you exist. go ahead, try

 

[Pitiless Wanderer]

go read some modern physics books...like victor stinger for one. he shows quite clearly how the laws of nature could, theoretically, come out of nothing.