The Nature of Solipsism

[The Sum of Awe]

A lot of you were mistaken by the point of my thread "Nothing Exists" simply because of the title. The accuracy of that title is not at all compared to the accuracy of this one. In this thread we will be discussing solipsism and why it is accurate.

First off, there are three split types of Solipsism that branch off, the main ones. I call them the categories of solipsism. There are indeed many subcategories in the philosophy, but I'm mostly interested in the three main ones, for they are the ones that actually are important.


The first one I'd like to talk about is Metaphysical Solipsism which is a philosophy of subjective idealism. Metaphysical solipsists hold it that the self is the only existing reality and that all other reality, including the external world and other persons, are representations of that self, and have no independent existence.

Everything is made of energy and we perceive it as full of solid things, but thats only real in our third dimensional sense....
The first dimension is length.
The second dimension is length*width.
The third dimension is length*width*depth (Where we live physically).
The fourth dimension is length*width*depth*duration (Time).
And the 5th dimension is the immense amount of probabilities that arise from the previous dimensions...

Whatever you see in real life is just a dream within the waves of some indeterminate, 5th dimensional futures that we destroy just by viewing the fourth dimension of time. Anything besides this higher level of conscious awareness or thinking is just information our brain receIves from the senses.

Epistemological Solipsism which circles around the question of how could one know life exists? How does one know their senses are accurate?

So this would go out to Realists and Skeptics... Epistemological solipsism is what I define as the TRUE Skepticism... Meaning the solipsists in this function are what it is really like to be skeptical. They do not have faith or belief in anything, even though it is seen, smelled, heard, felt, and tasted all together.

If you burn your hand on a burning stove, you would get a quick reflex from your mind that tells your body... sorry, FORCES your body to get that hand off that stove! It is a defense mechanism that is automatic that your brain replies to from knowing the feeling of burning. But how would we know what we felt is real, not just a part of your imagination? Couldn't your brain go off in reaction like that at any time if you imagine the burning? It does indeed work a bit like that. You do not have to feel the burning to trigger the defense mechanism, you just have to know that it is burning, and knowing is the only thing that you need to get the defense mechanism ready.


Methodological Solipsism is the last one. Sadly I don't know much about it... can't say much.

 

[Skwim]

I'd discuss the topic, but lately all people my mind has been concocting have been disputing my arguments, and I'm getting tired of it. So, until I can come up with an easier OP for you to post I'm going to have to simply disagree with solipsism and pass on by.

 

[Protester]

Solipsism syndrome is, by extension, the overwhelming feeling that nothing is real, that all is a dream. Sufferers become lonely and detached from the world and eventually become completely indifferent.[3] Some people claim to have suffered from Solipsism Syndrome[4] but it is not currently recognized as a psychiatric disorder by the American Psychiatric Association

excerpt from, Solipsism, the Syndrome. Well, if it isn't a psychiatric problem, if must be a moral one, What does the Bible say about narcissism? .

 

[Manfred]

I'd discuss the topic, but lately all people my mind has been concocting have been disputing my arguments, and I'm getting tired of it. So, until I can come up with an easier OP for you to post I'm going to have to simply disagree with solipsism and pass on by.

I'd put more thought into this response, but lately my mind hasn't concocted enough quality people to dispute if that's even possible.

 

[Me Myself]

Solipsism is lucidity at it´s finest if you ask me.

And an absolutely honest sense of logic.

 

[Benhamine]

In that my knowledge is increased by interactions that I have with other people, objects, events, etc., I find it highly unlikely that solipsism is valid in any grand essence. While one can't prove that their senses aren't tricking them, to me it seems improbable that they would spontaneously create novel information in the brain. I will state that what we experience the world as through our senses is not exactly how the world actually is, but to go to the level of complete fabrication seems unnecessary and unfounded.

While I believe that the self is essentially an illusion our brains create (IE there is no true independent being separate from all other matter and energy) there is some form of primary independent self in at least so far as to say that I don't know what you are thinking even though we're all part of the grand vat of matter that is existence. So if that's the case then there is, at least on some level, a separation between you and me thus creating a self.

-Benhamine

 

[Straw Dog]

In that my knowledge is increased by interactions that I have with other people, objects, events, etc., I find it highly unlikely that solipsism is valid in any grand essence. While one can't prove that their senses aren't tricking them, to me it seems improbable that they would spontaneously create novel information in the brain. I will state that what we experience the world as through our senses is not exactly how the world actually is, but to go to the level of complete fabrication seems unnecessary and unfounded.

While I believe that the self is essentially an illusion our brains create (IE there is no true independent being separate from all other matter and energy) there is some form of primary independent self in at least so far as to say that I don't know what you are thinking even though we're all part of the grand vat of matter that is existence. So if that's the case then there is, at least on some level, a separation between you and me thus creating a self.

-Benhamine

I concur. Our sensory/perceptual apparatus does not present a perfect representation of the way that things naturally are, but it does create a pretty useful map of reality. Of course, we can continuously update and refine the details within our map minds to make them even more useful over time.

Furthermore, how useful is solipsism really? I mean, if someone really decided to believe in it then they would be free to act as they would within a dream setting. I would say that dreaming is a pretty solipsistic exercise. Why can't we manipulate matter and energy in our waking life as we're able to manipulate things in our lucid dreams? If solipsism is not useful in any real capacity, then I judge it to be untrue.

 

[Benhamine]

I concur. Our sensory/perceptual apparatus does not present a perfect representation of the way that things naturally are, but it does create a pretty useful map of reality. Of course, we can continuously update and refine the details within our map minds to make them even more useful over time.

Furthermore, how useful is solipsism really? I mean, if someone really decided to believe in it then they would be free to act as they would within a dream setting. I would say that dreaming is a pretty solipsistic exercise. Why can't we manipulate matter and energy in our waking life as we're able to manipulate things in our lucid dreams? If solipsism is not useful in any real capacity, then I judge it to be untrue.

It can be true without having any meaningful use. I would agree that arguing solipsism is one of the most useless arguments out there in that a) there isn't a way to know the truth and b) if there were it wouldn't affect how we should live our day to day lives. However, there is a truth in that it is either real or all a dream.

-Benhamine (Hope that made sense:areyoucra)

 

[InformedIgnorance]

Personally I think that Solipsism is indeed a valid philosophical pursuit in that it is perhaps the single most radical approach to the application of critical thinking, beginning with the 'mind' or the philosopher entity as the only 'known'; however I feel that on occasion the Solipsism approach does not adequately attempting to construct an understanding of existence based around that 'mind' given its limitations on acknowledging potentially valid though more abstract definitions of existence for entities outside of that mind.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I'll agree with Benhamine and Straw Dog. As a Zen Buddhist, and follower of the Yogacara philosophy, I can admit that only minds are real, and that the physical realm is just a dream, or a shadow. However, I cannot agree with solipsism, which seems to me to take Kant's transcendental idealism to the extreme, at least as far as epistemology and ontology are concerned. I also believe in Dependent Origination, which, simplified, indicates that all things are dependent on all other things, and there is no individuality. While these ideas, combined, come somewhat close to solipsism, we cannot deny the reality of other beings. Some skepticism is good, but taken too far, it becomes highly illogical, which is what solipsism seems to do.

 

[InformedIgnorance]

*Nods* which is my problem with their lack of acceptance of alternative existence definitions (even in the abstract); as even if considered in the abstract, that which the entity perceives (even if it does not 'exist') exists even if only as a perception in the entity which perceives it. In this way anything that can be perceived (or indeed CONCEIVED) exists even if only as an extension of self, including a chair which is simultaneously entirely white and entirely black; for it exists within the mind of someone contemplating such an entity even if it exists nowhere else.

Another major issue with it is allowance for non perceived or conceived entities; if someone you do not know is there is standing behind you and throws a rock that you had never considered at the back of your head, did anything happen? This is a problem for Solipsism.