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Anonymous
Anonymous asked in Arts & HumanitiesPhilosophy · 1 decade ago

Is it logically possible to know all the answers to "Why" questions?

Pretend we have all the scientific knowledge there is. Would that answer all the "Why" questions? I think it would answer the "What" questions but what about all the "Why" questions? A simple one for example, "Why" does anything exist? At what point does "Why" questions become illigitamate and Why?

Update:

I'm trying to get at the limitations of asking "Why." Maybe a better example is it a legitamate question to ask "why is there suffering?"

Update 2:

I'm not asking how my brain picks up signals of pain and how that happened. But for what purpose?

14 Answers

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  • 1 decade ago
    Favorite Answer

    All why questions can be answered with the

    "Because I said so." answer. Only use this answer if you are bigger than the person who is asking the why question.

    Good luck.

  • ?
    Lv 4
    5 years ago

    Well, I'm not a Christian, but I'd be happy to point out the flaws in your question. Let's start with: "I guarantee that Christ, a Hebrew, neither taught nor believed in creation as most current Christians do." No you can't, unless you have somehow found an authenticated letter written by Jesus detailing exactly what he believed. If so, bring it. Or how about: "I can prove, within the first sentence of the Bible, that the "Hebrew God of Creation" is NOT the "Christian God of Creation" All you've "shown" is that Christians and Hebrews have slightly different view on what "God" did. You didn't prove they were different gods. An optimist may look at a glass and say it's half full, while a pessimist might say it's half empty. Different view, but it's the same glass (Well, maybe not, but that's a different arguement). And then again: "Within the first verse of the Bible I discredit the Christian view of the God of Creation" No, you didn't. You showed that Christian text and Hebrew text differ. That does nothing to discredit the Christian view. Seriously, for someone who demands a logical answer, you make a lot of leaps of "logic." It makes you sound like someone who is more interested in bringing down Christianity than actually finding truth. Do us all a favor and think things through a little bit more next time

  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    I think any answer to any question can be found if you are looking for it. I may have the answers to some why questions and the ones I don't have answers for someone else may have and the ones they don't someone else may, and so on.

    As far as your question "Why does suffering exist" is pretty easily answered. Suffering exists for a couple of reasons.

    1. When you have suffered you are now much more equipped to help others who are suffering. And you have been strengthened by it and are better able to go through things that may be much more unbearable if you had not struggled in the past. Kind of the "what doesn't kill us makes us stronger" philosophy.

    2. From a religious stand-point, suffering exists because Earth is a spiritual battle ground where the forces of good and evil fight constantly. When people fly planes into towers and people die and lives are destroyed then the evil forces score one point. And when people turn to God and away from evil the good scores one... People many times ask, "Why does God let so many people suffer?" And its not that God WANTS us to suffer, its that we are caught in the crossfire of a spiritual battle that continues on.

  • 1 decade ago

    I would think no on these grounds. "Why" questions pertain to causality. You are asking the cause of something, why its the case, and of course you can alway ask why of the most immediate answer too, and on and on. Children do this all the time. Why=causation. And the causality of everything is inter-related, going all the way back to one of two possibilities: a 1st cause(what many would consider god) or else, causality is infinite.

    In the first case, 1st cause(perhaps god) would suppose something divine that by definition isn't governed by the laws of causality that describe the universe. But rather, is the ultimate explanation for causality. To expect the essence of god, or 1st cause, or "Why", would make rational sense and itself be subject to why questions would be a contradiction in terms.

    In the second case, if causality were infinite there'd never be an ultimate why or explanation for anything and thus it would not be logically, or theoretically, possible to know the ultimate answer.

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  • Anonymous
    1 decade ago

    Contray to what I used to think, I belive why questions are indeed illgitamate, and most like made by a idiot. Not saying that those who ask are idiots, but it is truly a stupid and annoying. I'd say most of them would be answered, but the remaining would be the questions that are asked in a defensive way, if you glean my meaning. They would be asked by askers who distinctly know the answer who are just trying to give us a run for the money. The question "Why does anything exist", thats all too simple to answer, well a few answers..

    1.Because it just does

    2.Why doesn't anything exist?

    3 42

    4. IF it didn't exist nothing would and nothing would be boring, but then again nothing would be something, so lets just say 0 would exist.

  • 1 decade ago

    It's so easy to sound cool when you ask what and why questions without having to be responsible for knowing part of the answer. A lot of questions are polling for answers, some are just chat, and then it can get worse.

    Many people feel urge towards philosophy and use YA to "Test the waters", That's why so many questions get repeated. Whats challenging is to keep finding new answers to the meaning of life question. What gives your life meaning would be polling. What about my life is chat.

    "What is a Nihilists view of what a good life would be", now that is a question about the meaning of life that could elicit some interesting answers.

  • ?
    Lv 7
    1 decade ago

    In the pretend world "Yes" it would be a waste of time.

    In the real world we don't even know what the last "Why"" question is. For every advance in technology or human invention or thing or idea created by man presents a whole new list of "Why"" questions. So it's not possible to reach the end of knowledge or curiosity.

    That's my opinion. Later.

  • 1 decade ago

    I think we don't even know why we exist. Will science know why? I don't think so.

    With regards to pain: No pain, no gain. Pain is a sign that a better thing is to come. That's my personal point of view.

  • 1 decade ago

    The What questions and the how do things work questions for sure. The questions about Peace and how to gain it are what and how questions.

    Source(s): usual
  • 1 decade ago

    No you can't have all of the answers, because then you could just say: "Why do you know all of the answers?".

    People only think that they have all of the answers.

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