Can Nobody Exist?

@Intrepid,

are you sure he exists?

1 Reply

@GoshisDead,

GoshisDead wrote:

are you sure he exists?

Well, according to his profile here on A2K he does.

0 Replies

@kennethamy,

Hi can!

Are you saying that 'nobody can exist'?
If you are, and I believe you are, would you mind shouting that out in a busy street the next time you are in one, please?

If nobody can exist, how do you and I do it (exist)?

Thank you Ken!
Mark...

1 Reply

@goodtopaz,

HI Good!

What - Truly really?

LOL!
Mark...

0 Replies

@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Hi can!

Are you saying that 'nobody can exist'?
If you are, and I believe you are, would you mind shouting that out in a busy street the next time you are in one, please?

If nobody can exist, how do you and I do it (exist)?

Thank you Ken!
Mark...

I am not merely saying that it is possible that nobody should exist, but that it was true at one time that nobody existed. And if you don't believe that, you can look it up. Scientists say that (depending on what you mean by "human being") human beings have existed for fewer than a million years. Before that, nobody existed.

If I shouted out on a busy street, "The Sun is about 93 million miles from Earth!" people would look at me very curiously. So, nothing much follows from the fact that if I shouted out on a busy street, "There was a time when nobody existed" people would look at me quite curiously.

Of course, the proposition that nobody exists in the year 2010 is false. But the proposition that nobody exists in the year two million B.C. is true. It depends on what proposition y9u are talking about.

As you know, I never said that nobody can exist. That is clearly false. What I said is that there was a time when nobody did exist. And that is, of course, true.

1 Reply

@kennethamy,

mark noble wrote:

Hi!

Can nobody exist?

kennethamy wrote:

Well, of course.

kennethamy wrote:

As you know, I never said that nobody can exist. That is clearly false.

The question "can nobody exist" answered in the affirmative equates to "nobody can exist", correct?
So, what you claim to be false is clearly true, true?

"Nobody can exist" you say... Do you stick by this?

On the other matter of what was going on prior to the advent of humanity (as theoretically proposed by scientists, who were not there, if there was a there even), it doesn't matter to this thread.

If, as you say "nobody can exist", where would we locate that nobody - Where is nobody at? Can you point out this 'nobody' that now exists. Prove to me somehow please Ken, that nobody can exist.

Kind regards!
Mark...

1 Reply

@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

mark noble wrote:

Hi!

Can nobody exist?

kennethamy wrote:

Well, of course.

kennethamy wrote:

As you know, I never said that nobody can exist. That is clearly false.

The question "can nobody exist" answered in the affirmative equates to "nobody can exist", correct?
So, what you claim to be false is clearly true, true?

"Nobody can exist" you say... Do you stick by this?

On the other matter of what was going on prior to the advent of humanity (as theoretically proposed by scientists, who were not there, if there was a there even), it doesn't matter to this thread.

If, as you say "nobody can exist", where would we locate that nobody - Where is nobody at? Can you point out this 'nobody' that now exists. Prove to me somehow please Ken, that nobody can exist.

Kind regards!
Mark...

In English (now) the question, can nobody exist means, is it possible for nobody to exist? The answer is, of course. In fact (as I have already pointed out) two million years ago it was true that nobody existed. And since what is actual is possible, it is possible for nobody to exist. QED. Would it be possible today for nobody to exist. Of course. If an asteroid hit Earth and wiped all human life out, then nobody would exist. Therefore, it is possible (today) that nobody exist. Is it true today that nobody exists. The answer to that is no. What is so hard to understand about all that?

Let me try to diagnose your confusion:

The phrase "it is possible that nobody exists" is ambiguous. It might mean:

1. That the statement, that nobody exists might be true for it does not imply a contradiction. And clearly that is true since it was true at one time that nobody existed.

2. That the statement that it is not known whether anyone exists. And, of course, that is false, since we all know that someone that people do exist.

I mean "it is possible that nobody exists" in sense one. But you are interpreting it in sense 2. Thus your confusion.

I am not at all sure (putting it gently) that you will understand the distinction between sense 1. and sense 2. . But anyway, that is what is happening here. There is a problem of ambiguity.

1 Reply

@kennethamy,

But if nobody existed there would be no such thing as nobody existing so nobody can't exist in a world where the question exists.

2 Replies

@spendius,

Exactly!

Have a brilliant day!
Mark...

1 Reply

@spendius,

spendius wrote:

But if nobody existed there would be no such thing as nobody existing so nobody can't exist in a world where the question exists.

But why should the question have to arise at all. 10 million years ago no one existed, and, of course, the question did not arise, since there was no one to ask the question whether anyone existed. But, so what? Why is it necessary to have the question asked?

0 Replies

@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Exactly!

Have a brilliant day!
Mark...

Yes, as I predicted, you did not understand. But that does not matter. It is still true, and those who can do philosophy would understand.

1 Reply

@kennethamy,

But you are here to teach is that philosophy not to just say it would understand.

How would it understand?

0 Replies

@mark noble,

No; we all post on a2k as imagination; we really don't exist.

0 Replies

Hi!

Nobody is the absence of somebody.

Mark...

2 Replies

@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Nobody is the absence of somebody.

Not quite, remember Odysseus and the Cyclops.

2 Replies

@HexHammer,

HexHammer wrote:

mark noble wrote:
Nobody is the absence of somebody.
Not quite, remember Odysseus and the Cyclops.

Yes, but when Odysseus said, "I am nobody" to slip past the Cyclops, he was actually saying, "I am Mr. Nobody" not, "I am no one".

1 Reply

@mark noble,

mark noble wrote:

Hi!

Nobody is the absence of somebody.

Mark...

True, And eons ago, there was an absence of somebody on Earth, which is to say it was true then that there was nobody. Therefore, it is possible for nobody to exist.

1 Reply

@kennethamy,

kennethamy wrote:

HexHammer wrote:

mark noble wrote:
Nobody is the absence of somebody.
Not quite, remember Odysseus and the Cyclops.

Yes, but when Odysseus said, "I am nobody" to slip past the Cyclops, he was actually saying, "I am Mr. Nobody" not, "I am no one".

Yes and no, indeed he said "no one", but it should be understoodt that the principle of misleading with such term.

1 Reply

@HexHammer,

Hi hex!

I adore that story.

mark...

0 Replies

@kennethamy,

Hi ken!

I understand your point clearly.

But.

Can nobody not exist? Look at it from this angle for a moment, if you will, please?

Kind regards!
Mark...

1 Reply

Can Nobody Exist?

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