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Originally Posted by D00MTR0N

but in all honesty you all knew the chair was there,to say its not would be denying logic and reality,no?

The purpose of the assignment was to give a rational answer to the proposed question. Proving that it was there was not within the scope of the exercise.

For example, I could see the chair quite clearly so my answer revolved around my sense of sight and the logical deductions based on it. Others said that they couldn't be sure without further information (touching it, for example) and that the eyes are easily fooled. Ask any magician.

But the real test was for us to see what our own personal philosophies were, as a starting point to learning about other philosophies.

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Originally Posted by CLASSIFIED

I don't think the purpose of the assignment was to prove the chair was really there.

Correct.

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The purpose of philosophy in general is to examine life and not take things for granted; like that an empty chair is really in a classroom.

It's also a way to view everything from different perspectives and explore them

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Originally Posted by D00MTR0N

see what I dont understand is why people have to play head games,if you are sitting in a room and someone places a chair in front of you then the chair is in front of you,to deny that is to deny common sense and to me you are arguing non logic,to say its a gloomy day and then someone else argue no its a nice day is one thing for they are both examples of ones own perception,but to argue that a physical object is not there when it is is just being an ass imo.

Well, that's philosophy for you. For some, it's a silly exercise that is ultimately pointless. For others, it helps give insight into their world, or at the very least, something to think about.

It also makes for some interesting bar talk.

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Originally Posted by Tiberius

A chair is a chair, that's just how it is. You can sit on the floor, does it make the floor a chair? Nope, just a good place to sit. Why are we talking about chairs?

All words are essentially meaningless without some context or agreed-upon meaning. "Chair" only has meaning because we associate that word with a particular series of objects. If you were taught your entire life that "chair" meant "tree", then your answer to the question would be very different from someone else's answer.

Here's another question for you: if our knees bent the other way, what would a chair look like?