Questions tagged [solipsism]
The position that only one's own existence can be demonstrated to exist (and that everything and everyone else cannot.)
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How to justify our beliefs so that it is not circular? [duplicate]
Solipsism can explain our experience using the smallest number of entities.
The existence of other minds can explain our experience using a much larger number of entities.
How can we reject solipsism?
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How to justify why we choose one type of simplicity and reject another type of simplicity? [duplicate]
When we reject a skeptical explanation, we need to explain and justify how we did it and why we made such a decision.
When choosing the best explanation, we must choose what is most important for us: ...
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What is more important: simplicity or induction?
An argument by analogy is an inductive argument for the existence of other minds. An argument by analogy is enough to justify the belief in the existence of other minds.
But Occam's Razor offers a ...
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How to interpret sleep in metaphysical solipsism?
Sleep is a curious necessity for most beings and impacts health when neglected. How does metaphysical solipsism interpret this regular activity?
Motivation
From a solipsistic viewpoint, sleep could be ...
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Metaphysical (Hard) Solipsism vs Epistemological (Soft) Solipsism
I’ve seen these terms tossed around as if they are actually different things but it does not appear to me that they are different philosophical positions/beliefs.
Perhaps I am wrong, but here is my ...
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is subjective idealism or solipsism debunked because of the existence of "Brain" and "Surprise"? related to mind- body problem
reading this might help you understand my point
Idealism, Narrative and the Mind-Brain Relation
https://www.jstor.org/stable/44807008
how does someone like Berkeley explain the fact that there is ...
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Do we have evidence that explanations that contain a minimal number of entities are true? [closed]
Does our universe require all our explanations to be the most minimal?
For example, entropy indicates that everything in our universe tends to a minimum.
So all explanations should be as minimal as ...
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Does the argument by analogy in favor of the existence of other minds lead to solipsism?
https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/other-minds/#ArguAnal
I can't understand the article. Here it is said that the argument by analogy inevitably leads to solipsism. Then it is said that the argument ...
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What exactly is the implausibility and unconvincingness of solipsism? [closed]
Solipsism is unconvincing and implausible because it is a complex and confusing explanation.
Solipsism offers two different explanations for no reason at all: one for my behavior and one for other ...
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What is the probability of solipsism? [closed]
What is the probability of solipsism?
Is there a generally accepted professional assessment of the probability, plausibility and persuasiveness of solipsism?
I would like to know:
How likely solipsism ...
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Is epistemological solipsism coherent despite philosophical arguments to the contrary?
These are similar questions:
Refuting Solipsism
Is Epistemological solipsism a contradiction?
The IEP article Solipsism and The Problem of Other Minds:
https://iep.utm.edu/solipsis/
7 The Incoherence ...
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How do people justify their belief in other minds and reject solipsism if Occam's Razor does not provide an answer? [closed]
How does Occam's Razor result affect what we should believe?
If Occam's Razor says that solipsism wins in quantitative simplicity, and the existence of other minds wins in explanatory simplicity, then ...
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What would it be like for a person with no senses and no motor functions at all since birth?
As a sort of thought experiment trying to go to the farthest lengths of knowing oneself from the distractions of this world, I wanted to know what it would be like for a person that was born with none ...
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Unless you are an absolutist when it comes to knowledge, isn’t everyone a solipsist?
Solipsism (/ˈsɒlɪpsɪzəm/ ⓘ SOLL-ip-siz-əm; from Latin solus 'alone', and ipse 'self')[1] is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism ...
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Does introspection provide strong evidence for weak forms of solipsism and idealism? Are not all philosophical distinctions mind-dependent objects?
Philosophy in One Lecture
Daniel Bonevac:
https://youtu.be/AycTgPJtBP0
In this video lecture Daniel draws two stick figures on the blackboard, representing two human bodies, and attached to each ...
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Does 'cogito ergo sum' actually establish the existence of an objective truth/reality?
Before I start describing my questions, I would like to draw some background on my understanding and knowledge of Descartes' ontological(metaphysical) views regarding the cogito and philosophy in ...
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Can there be a subject without an object?
As far as I know about solipsism is that the solipsist I guess would be me, and I am the only mind that exists and everything I perceive from my senses and the experience of the world is solely a ...
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Which view is theoretically more virtuous: (1) metaphysical solipsism, (2) everything is real or (3) some things are real and some are hallucinations?
Let's consider three theories:
Metaphysical solipsism.
Every subjective conscious experience points to an objective external reality.
Some subjective conscious experiences point to an objective ...
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Does anesthesia disprove solipsisim?
According to science this is what happens to brain under anesthesia:
Anesthetic drugs cause brain circuits to change their oscillation patterns in particular ways, thereby preventing neurons in ...
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Why is it reasonable to believe that the world will continue to exist after I die?
Why is it reasonable to believe that the world will continue to exist after I die? I am not asking for an absolute proof, just a reasonably convincing argument.
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Burden of proof and solipsism
If we say that the burden of proof is on the one making the claim and thus we should only believe in something if we have proof and should otherwise discard it, than the saying that an external world ...
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Does quantum immortality mean solipsism?
If when we die another universe is created in which we live, then would the people of that universe be real?( by that i mean conscious beings like myself) or am I misunderstanding QI?
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Will you appreciate my arguments against solipsism? [closed]
A month ago I wrote here. As time passed, I was able to collect some interesting arguments against solipsism in my piggy bank. Let's discuss them!
There is definitely me here. I can't exist alone by ...
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Has brain-to-brain communication been addressed in the literature, and if so, is there a fundamental reorganization of philosophy required?
Answering Is this a good argument against mental causation? led me to a simple metaphysical question, and I wonder if anyone in the Western Canon addressed it, particularly someone in the last century....
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Why don't you (personally) worry about solipsism?
We can say as much as we like that solipsism is irrefutable, but isn't that a reason to worry? Personally, it scares me that I can be left alone in a meaningless world. If solipsism has passed you by, ...
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If some people don't have an internal monologue, is that a problem for arguments for the existence of other minds?
https://www.verywellmind.com/does-everyone-have-an-inner-monologue-6831748
All arguments in favor of the existence of other minds claim that other people have minds similar to my mind.
My mind is ...
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Why are the existence of obstacles to our will considered a counterargument to solipsism?
In another (unrelated) question, the topic of solipsism came up in the comments, as well as the counterargument that there exist obstacles to our will, things out of our control, and so reality must ...
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How is the term "existence" even defined for things other than your subjective experience?
Lots of philosophies talk about an objective world that exists outside of one's mind. Some philosophies even say that this objective world is the only thing that exists, and that subjective qualia are ...
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Is solipsism truly unprovable?
I know I’ve asked a lot of these but this one I’m hoping to be definitive.
I have heard pretty much everyone say that it’s unprovable, that you can’t know for sure if it’s true or not because of the ...
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Does this paper “prove” solipsism is true?
https://vernonpress.com/file/7502/e19b0d05052691e5d1fa06f3a2939a5f/1543562412.pdf
I wanted to ask people on here to take a look at the above and see if it does.
From what I know you can’t prove it ...
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Has this mathematically proven solipsism? [duplicate]
http://bc.upjp2.edu.pl/Content/5621/35_PDFsam_Ca%C5%82o%C5%9B%C4%87%20ze%20znakiem%20wodnym3.pdf
It's not so much the math as it is these things in the link:
More generally, there can be no deductive ...
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Artificial intelligence ChatGPT said that solipsism is true. Any evidence of solipsism?
A user on Reddit was told by the artificial intelligence ChatGPT that solipsism is true. Why did he say that?
Is there any evidence of solipsism that ChatGPT knows about?
Should ChatGPT be trusted or ...
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Is Levinas only interested in kind of universal Otherness?
Do I "encounter" the Other if I do not know what my "responsibilities" to them are?
rather than formulating an ethical theory, Levinas developed his philosophy in opposition to ...
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Pragmatism vs Truth: Does evolution prioritise one over the other?
Pragmatism:
Pragmatism is a philosophical movement that includes those who claim that an ideology or proposition is true if it works satisfactorily, that the meaning of a proposition is to be found ...
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Should a solipsist get life insurance?
What are the reasons for a convinced metaphysical solipsist to get life insurance?
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What is lost with solipsism (for the non-egocentric)?
I was thinking about the claim that other (future past etc. groups) people don't matter at all, and wondered in what way solipsism, which I think implies this ambivalence, might impoverish us, either ...
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Does the existence of non-understandable concepts refute solipsism?
First, I am aware that most of the essays regarding solipsism and the existence of philosophical zombies conclude that there is no way to confirm or refute them.
From my perspective, there is a vast ...
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An Argument against Descartes's radical doubt
Reflecting on Descartes's evil genius, I came up with an argument to use against his radical skepticism, that is, when he doubts even the basic laws of logic and basic mathematics (3 + 2 = 5).
The ...
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What if I get born again as the same person for ever?
What if after I die my life starts all over again? With the same body and the same consciousness! Do you have counterarguments? 😓
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What if my life starts all over again for all eternity?
What if only I have a consciousness and after I die my life starts all over again for all eternity?! And the memories of my previous life get deleted? Please give me counterarguments! 😔
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What if my life gets repeated again and again?
What if only I am real? What if when I die my life starts all over again? Like an endless loop? And all of my memories get deleted? Please give me arguments against this!
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How can I debunk solipsism?
What if my consciousness is the only thing that is real? What if the entire world does not exist in a material way? What if only this moment exists? What if the past is an illusion? What if people etc....
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What are the best Arguments against solipsism?
I am afraid that only my consciousness exists. That basically my consciousness simulates my body and the entire world. Please help me.
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Help with whether other minds exist, 'best explanation' argument
I recently read an article about other minds and there were two good arguments for other minds.
The first is the analogy argument. As I understand it, this argument is already outdated.
The second ...
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Is Epistemological solipsism a contradiction?
Epistemological solipsism in a nutshell regards the external world as unknowable. This in turn is an assertion that "the knowledge of the external world is unknowable" and thus a ...
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What are the strong and contemporary philosophical arguments for believing in other minds? [duplicate]
What are the historically most cited and used arguments that philosophers have made for believing that other people have individual minds and feelings contrary to the assertions of solipsists?
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Does Japan and Chinese Buddhism Teach Solipsism or Nihilism?
Do the modern schools of Buddhism Soto, Rinzai, Jodo-shu, Jodo Shinshu, Nichiren, Shingon in Japan teach Buddhists, Buddhas and Bodhisattvas any varieties of solipsism and any varieties of nihilism?
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How do Chinese and Japanese Buddhists perceive people?
I have seen many answers to similar questions, but they do not answer my question.
The fact is that the Mahayana doctrine (which is popular in China and Japan) leads to Nihilism or Solipsism.
I asked ...
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Can the Universe make sense at all?
Considering that nearly everything that exists cannot be even imagined by humans (or would it be reasonable to assume the contrary?), what is the chance of finding a scientifically coherent ...
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Simulation hypothesis and solipsism
Is Nick Bostrom's simulation hypothesis a solipsistic idea? This hypothesis says that only I have consciousness, and all other people are unconscious philosophical zombies? Which version of the ...
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