Does The Chair Exist?

[sfs]

There's an ascertainment bias in the answers you're getting. The typical genuine scientific answer to this kind of question is to sidle quietly out of the room and go find something useful to do.

 

[sandwiches]

There's an ascertainment bias in the answers you're getting. The typical genuine scientific answer to this kind of question is to sidle quietly out of the room and go find something useful to do.

Maybe.

However, I've found that questions like these, where people start questioning things like whether we can 'truly know' something or whether something 'exists,' ultimately boil down to word games. They use the words in their questions and arguments in a manner not consistent to how even themselves use the word 99.9999% of the time.

This isn't about science but simply about the limitations of language and the games we play with them.

 

[Chesterton]

There's an ascertainment bias in the answers you're getting. The typical genuine scientific answer to this kind of question is to sidle quietly out of the room and go find something useful to do.

Maybe.

However, I've found that questions like these, where people start questioning things like whether we can 'truly know' something or whether something 'exists,' ultimately boil down to word games. They use the words in their questions and arguments in a manner not consistent to how even themselves use the word 99.9999% of the time.

This isn't about science but simply about the limitations of language and the games we play with them.

Well science deals in facts, reason, logic, all that stuff. I'm really not playing word games. It seems a simple yes or no question. If science can't answer it, where do I turn?

 

[Stethacanthus]

An old joke question about the study of philosophy, but I intentionally put it in the Science forum. I'm curious what might turn up for a scientific answer.

The chair has a mass of 1.23kg and is composted of primarily iron. Volume of the chair was not tested.

This data supports the hypothesis that the chair exists.

 

[Chesterton]

The chair has a mass of 1.23kg and is composted of primarily iron. Volume of the chair was not tested.

This data supports the hypothesis that the chair exists.

How do arbitrary human constructs like the measurability of mass and the differentiation of elements support a hypothesis that the chair exists?

 

[sfs]

Well science deals in facts, reason, logic, all that stuff. I'm really not playing word games. It seems a simple yes or no question. If science can't answer it, where do I turn?

Philosophy. Science doesn't deal in questions about ontology. Science can tell you whether there is a chair in the room, what its mass and shape and hardness and specific gravity are, what elements it's made of, how radioactive it is. Whether those properties mean the chair exists or not is not a scientific question.

 

[sfs]

How do arbitrary human constructs like the measurability of mass and the differentiation of elements support a hypothesis that the chair exists?

A perfect example of why yours is an utterly uninteresting question from a scientific perspective.

 

[[serious]]

Perhaps a better question is what use is the chair to a butterfly?

 

[Strathos]

Is this a solipsism thing?

 

[Chesterton]

Philosophy. Science doesn't deal in questions about ontology. Science can tell you whether there is a chair in the room, what its mass and shape and hardness and specific gravity are, what elements it's made of, how radioactive it is. Whether those properties mean the chair exists or not is not a scientific question.

I think that's the right answer. There are some questions which science can't answer. Perhaps that went without having to be said, but some people tend to make science out to be the one human endeavor which will eventually figure out everything about reality and solve all problems. And I hope it does continue to figure lots of things out. I'm not anti-science but I am sort of anti-Scientism.

(Been standing for a couple days, think I'll sit down now. Whew.)

 

[Ken-1122]

An old joke question about the study of philosophy, but I intentionally put it in the Science forum. I'm curious what might turn up for a scientific answer.

Yes! The chair does exist. Next question?

Ken

 

[sfs]

I think that's the right answer. There are some questions which science can't answer. Perhaps that went without having to be said, but some people tend to make science out to be the one human endeavor which will eventually figure out everything about reality and solve all problems. And I hope it does continue to figure lots of things out. I'm not anti-science but I am sort of anti-Scientism.

(Been standing for a couple days, think I'll sit down now. Whew.)

A scientism-ist would probably reply that science can only answer meaningful questions, and the one you asked wasn't in that category.

I spent several months this year rarely being able to sit, thanks to a pinched nerve in my back. For me, the question of whether chairs existed became theoretical rather than practical.

 

[USincognito]

The chair is a lie.

 

[Chesterton]

Yes! The chair does exist. Next question?

Ken

I guess the next two would be "How do you know?" (scientically speaking of course), and "What's it made of?". We can skip the second question; you probably see where's that's going - "Then what're the strings made of" or "what is energy made of"?

A scientism-ist would probably reply that science can only answer meaningful questions, and the one you asked wasn't in that category.

You're probably right, and I would wholeheartedly disagree with that sentiment.

 

[Golan]

An old joke question about the study of philosophy, but I intentionally put it in the Science forum. I'm curious what might turn up for a scientific answer.

It exists only in your mind.

 

[Chesterton]

It exists only in your mind.

At least I've seen a chair before. Maybe more likely to exist than my mind.

 

[Michael]

At least I've seen a chair before. Maybe more likely to exist than my mind.

Only in your mind have you ever 'seen' a chair before you silly goose.

 

[Chesterton]

Only in your mind have you ever 'seen' a chair before you silly goose.

Looking at a chair is empirical evidence, no? I'm not sure what's empirical about a mind. I just sort of think or feel that I have/am one.

 

[keith99]

Don't mess with Texas!

There is a bit of ex post irony that Davey Crockett said something like "You can go to Hell, I'm going to Texas' as it seems they are becoming more similar.

 

[Michael]

Looking at a chair is empirical evidence, no? I'm not sure what's empirical about a mind. I just sort of think or feel that I have/am one.

It is rather ironic that even 'empirical' physics simply *assumes* the presence of an "observer" in order to measure anything.