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One reason is that we can count them. On the previous page, we talked about syllables as timing units. Language users can perceive those units and even count them. If I give you the word antidisestablishmentarianism, you know that there is more than one syllable involved. You even know that it's probably more than two or three. So, you have some perception of some words being perceptually longer than others in terms of syllables.
Here's another reason.
In English, we use an alphabetic system to write sounds. More or less. An strict definition of an alphabetic system is one in which one symbol refers to one sound. For example, the word mat has the following phonological representation: 
. In this word, the symbol m can be said to refer to 
, the symbol a can be said to refer to 
, and the symbol t can be said to refer to 
.
Of course, when we get to words like rough, show, and the like, this breaks down a bit. But you get the idea.
Other languages use a system in which one symbol refers not to a single sound, but a group of sounds. Observe the following from Cherokee, and Iroquoian language spoken in Oklahoma and North Carolina:
ganeli 'married person'
gadu 'bread'
newada 'hominy'
suli 'buzzard'
The word gadu has one of the same symbols as ganeli, the symbol 
. Both ganeli and gadu have the 'ga' combination. The words newada and suli also have one of the same symbols as ganeli, the symbols 
and 
. Further, they each have one of the same sound combinations as ganeli, 'ne' and 'li'.
Therefore, one can see that there is a match between a Cherokee symbol and a combination of consonants and vowels.
If we separate consonant and vowel sequences into syllables, then we can say that Cherokee uses a writing system in which one symbol represents a syllable.
In the next section, another piece of evidence regarding the existence of the syllable is discussed.