Why does anything exist?

[KukriKhan]

P1: Material things exist

That is unproven.

And un-prove-able.

What can be proved (by acclamative testimony) is that we can sense the existance of what seem to be material things.

We can see, smell, hear, taste, and touch them. As we can see, smell, hear, taste, and touch ourselves, which, we find, are different from those not-us material things.

So now there is I (the one doing the seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, and touching) - and not-I, the sawn, heard, touched, and tasted other.

You can take it from there.

[The Celtic Viking]

That is unproven.

And un-prove-able.

What can be proved (by acclamative testimony) is that we can sense the existance of what seem to be material things.

We can see, smell, hear, taste, and touch them. As we can see, smell, hear, taste, and touch ourselves, which, we find, are different from those not-us material things.

So now there is I (the one doing the seeing, smelling, hearing, tasting, and touching) - and not-I, the sawn, heard, touched, and tasted other.

You can take it from there.

*Knocks on computer*

That seems pretty material to me.

But yes, I know what you mean. However, I have never been a fan of solipsism, as it's such a useless philosophy. If this universe is just my imagination, how would I ever know that? Even if I somehow found out it was, what could I do about it?

The basic assumption that the universe exist and that we can learn things about it works, and it has given us (and continues to give) a lot in terms of results (computers, the internet, cell phones, houses, health care... and the list goes on). That's why I hold to it.