• Shawn
    13.2k
    There's nothing scarier than becoming a solipsist.

    In many ways splitting one's self off from the rest of the world is scarier than suicide. The soul goes on living in a self-made purgatory.

    Yet, there seems no way out of this predicament, or is there?

    How does one stop being a solipsist once one?
  • Pfhorrest
    4.6k
    By realizing the triviality of it. Even if solipsism is correct, the solipsist still finds themselves having experiences of something that is seemingly beyond their awareness or control, even if they think that that something is just another part of their own mind. The difference between "the part of my mind I am directly aware of and in control of" and "the part of my mind beyond that" is in practice indistinguishable from the difference between "myself" and "the rest of the world". You've still got to deal with that unknown "other" even if you think it's just an "other part of me", try to figure out how and why it works and how to make it better. And trying to do that cooperatively with other "figments of your imagination" requires granting them equal status as yourself: if the greater part of your mind that's beyond your awareness and control can contain things that superficially seem like you, what's to suppose that "you" yourself aren't just like them, and that that greater you isn't also looking at you through the eyes of those other "figments of your imagination"?

    The solipsist may deny that there is really anybody in disagreement at all, but will nevertheless find no traction in convincing what he thinks to be a figment of his imagination who seems to disagree with him that they are not real and so that their take on what else is or isn't real doesn't matter, especially if that supposed figment of his imagination is himself also a solipsist and so thinks that the first person is the actual figment of the imagination. The egotist, likewise, will find no route to moral agreement with someone whom he explicitly thinks is of no moral consideration, especially if that other person is also an egoist and thinks likewise of the first person.

    So even if solipsism is true, it makes no practical difference on how to go about life. You need to act the same way anyway.
  • Shawn
    13.2k


    Regarding the first paragraph, there's are subconscious and unconscious entailments here.

    Regarding second, I don't think solipsism in some Solaristic sense excludes the potential for disagreement. Psychological issues, would be dealt with at such a fast rate that people would literally overnight become perfect.
  • DrOlsnesLea
    56
    One harder notion of Solipsism, yet not so extreme:

    So let's assume that the impression of nature, of beauty, of colors have qualia to them in such a fashion that context of them in the brain, in the soul (that I think exists) makes them special to the person in space and time by the unique experiences they make in a person's mentality. This creates a special kind of solipsism as well such that the true magnificence of experiences overall has this subtle, non-investigative quality of person that is firmly set by context, a contextualism in the brain, in the soul. Sure, overt feelings are now fairly easy to determine by for example fMRI and other. But this is not the issue, it is the depth of contextuality in the mind that makes those other qualities of feelings inaccessible overall because they are impossible to describe and impossible to entirely investigate.
    The mystery of the World, one type of religious experience, "God's temple" in us in the grand World, much stronger too with the enhancement of science and questions over existence. So I say that to live is to have qualia, solipsism and contextualism in this fashion, the imprint on each and everyone by the World as a whole!

    Good life, everyone!

    Note: One account of Qualia can be found in Philosophy of Mind, 2nd ed. by Jaegwon Kim, chapter 8, for instance.
    Note 2: I use Solipsism in the Contextual Solipsism sense.
    Note 3: I think it's fair to say there are degrees of Solipsism.
  • Nils Loc
    1.4k
    How does one stop being a solipsist once one?Shawn

    Stop thinking about it.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    Stop thinking about it.Nils Loc

    Worst possible outcome?
  • QuixoticAgnostic
    58
    What do you understand solipsism to mean?
  • ernestm
    1k
    There's nothing scarier than becoming a solipsist.Shawn

    Why is there continued fascination with this topic? it gets beaten to death on this forum at least once a month.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    Why is there continued fascination with this topic? it gets beaten to death on this forum at least once a month.ernestm

    It is not implausible that a solipsist might arise.
  • QuixoticAgnostic
    58
    Okay, so we're just talking about knowledge then. In that case, what do you care if all you know is your own existence? Does the taste of a strawberry feel any less different? That's my crude, off the cuff response.
  • Outlander
    2.1k


    Perhaps but it doesn't necessarily have to be all that you've entailed. From my understanding of solipsism, it seems like a rational fallback point in beginning to question what is an objective/absolute truth. Perhaps I'm mistaken as one of the main principles seems to be the self conscious is all that can be known as opposed to all that is known for sure, presumably based on some sort of 'ism' that insists perspective ie. what can be observed or known with the human senses are inherently subjective. Might be a deviation (or simply not solipsism at all) but I imagine a rational thinker would use this as a mental floor to stand on and build so to speak as opposed to a mental ceiling to be trapped under. Anything to that effect, where the person actually begins to feel as you describe could be 'Solipsism syndrome' or depersonalization disorder at worst. Perhaps it may inevitably cause it? I subscribe to the idea there are some poison pill philosophies.

    Some people especially online hold or debate views they don't neccesarily live by, often just for sake of debate. I've done so a few times. I'm sitting in my house right now. My cat is nearby on a table. What makes any of those objects 'real'? The fact I can see the walls around me, that I can touch the table, and if I pet the cat it will purr? Perhaps. But so would in a dream.

    I imagine a solipsist would begin to gravitate away from the idea when they realise the premise that just because you can see, hear, and feel something doesn't mean it exists really doesn't grant anyone any special privileges. What if the Alexa machine had a glitch and decided it was real? Would it be your new roommate and your equal?

    Anyone interested in the idea should watch "Twilight Zone - Shadow Play". It's a really good episode about a stubborn solipsist ... who just so happened to be right. :)
  • neonspectraltoast
    258
    All you can reasonably do is try and eat everyone in the world's brain.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    Okay, so we're just talking about knowledge then.QuixoticAgnostic

    I think, so. What more is there to know apart from everything there is to know?

    *Speaking as if God were a solipsist, which he/she/it is.
  • QuixoticAgnostic
    58
    Oops, I meant to distinguish between "only the self exists" and "only the self can be known to exist". Which category do you fall under? And why, while we're at it.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    Anyone interested in the idea should watch "Twilight Zone - Shadow Play". It's a really good episode about a stubborn solipsist ... who just so happened to be right. :)Outlander

    I'm actually torrenting it right now.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    Oops, I meant to distinguish between "only the self exists" and "only the self can be known to exist". Which category do you fall under? And why, while we're at it.QuixoticAgnostic

    Both, haha. Dunno, why are you asking?
  • QuixoticAgnostic
    58
    Because you seem to be feeling some sort of existential dread and I'm trying to figure out why. So you think the only thing that exists is you. Strawberries don't exist. But do they still taste the same? Does a sandy beach still burn your feet? Do you still fear death? Do you still feel? And what is existence, if not feeling?
  • Shawn
    13.2k


    The most horrifying in my life has been seen.
  • ernestm
    1k
    It is not implausible that a solipsist might arise.Shawn

    What? Did I think something out loud again? :D
  • Nils Loc
    1.4k
    Worst possible outcome?Shawn

    Hell has exits, one hopes. The Buddha on your shoulder might whisper something about "mindfulness" and the imaginary friend on the other might say something about benign distraction.

    When a solipsist isn't thinking that he is a solipsist, is he a solipsist in that moment?

    Solipsism is a manifestation of loneliness most likely. Find a distraction and don't indulge in nightmares.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    delete
  • NOS4A2
    9.3k


    I cannot for the life of me see how solipsism is even tenable. The solipsist must make the silly assumption that he, The Self, is the center of the universe, which is of his own mind’s creation. Meanwhile others, who are the features of his universe, can watch him grow old and die, bury him, while the universe remains unaffected.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    I cannot for the life of me see how solipsism is even tenable.NOS4A2

    Isn't that a natural thing to say?

    The solipsist must make the silly assumption that he, The Self, is the center of the universe, which is of his own mind’s creation.NOS4A2

    Yes, of course.

    Meanwhile others, who are the features of his universe, can watch him grow old and die, bury him, while the universe remains unaffected.NOS4A2

    Technically, yes, but, to some point, no?
  • NOS4A2
    9.3k


    I think it revolves around what you think the Self is. What is at the center of this universe? Who or what perceives it? Where does the Self end and where does the universe begin? It seems to me these questions are either unanswerable or completely avoided.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    It seems to me these questions are either unanswerable or completely avoided.NOS4A2

    What makes you say that, Nosferatu?
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    Yet, there seems no way out of this predicament, or is there?Shawn

    It's helpful to come to terms with the fact that you aren't actually a solipsist.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    It's helpful to come to terms with the fact that you aren't actually a solipsist.ZzzoneiroCosm

    I never want to become one, even though I always end up being one at night...
  • Deletedmemberzc
    2.5k
    I never want to become one, even though I always end up being one at night...Shawn

    I've toyed with solipsism and have found it psychologically unsustainable. The only real solipsists are schizophrenic.

    See Louis A. Sass's Madness and Modernism for details. I may have mentioned this book before.
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    Louis A. Sass's Madness and ModernismZzzoneiroCosm

    I'll give it a read sometime. It seems like a hot pick nowadays.
  • A Seagull
    615
    What do you understand solipsism to mean? — QuixoticAgnostic
    https://www.google.com/search
    Shawn

    "the view or theory that the self is all that can be known to exist."

    How does one stop being a solipsist once one?Shawn

    It is quite easy really. Once you know that your self exists, you can infer the existence of other things and people.
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