The question is, in scientific terms, what exists and how do we know that it does exist?
Let's discuss what exists, and how and why it does.
I believe this can be broken down into two categories.
1)What our senses can tell us exists
2)What reasoning, mathematics, and experimental data can tell us
Starting with #1, one way we can prove things exist is through our sensory capabilities. If we can see it (sight), touch it (spacial awareness), smell it (scent), feel it (texture touch), hear it (sound), taste it, then we can know that it exists. Why? I think if it can affect us, then it exists.
The other is when we exclude all our sensory methods. How then can we test and define that something exists?
One could say, we know something exists if it has the ability to affect other things that exist. Say what?
Let's try this again. What exists is, that which can have an effect on that which can have an effect on those things that produce effects on other things that have effects on others.
If I try to describe the universe when excluding the awareness produced by senses, that is, to exclude the consciousness, I end up with trying to explain that which is not absolute. For example, Let's say I know an object exists because it can have an effect on another object. This lets us know it exists but it does not define how. Or, I know light exists because it has an effect on an atom. But why do I know that atom exists? Because it produces energy?
Do we have nothing absolute to fall back on as to be positive? Even if we had a fundamental particle, in what way can we prove that it exists without falling into the trap of producing more questions?
The problem is, when something = something it is, duplicating the obvious. 1 = 1, which is to say 1 = 1, did I flip the numbers around? it is impossible to tell, and the whole of the equation simply means 1.
This takes me to a final query, When studying the physics of the universe, what are we studying? Things seperate of our senses or things produced by our senses?
Is there a field of study that truly excludes our senses? I believe this could be quantum mechanics (quantum material), and that may be why we can not understand it, that is, it behaves in ways that our senses disagree with.
This topic may jump around a little but let's discuss what exists, and
