Ashley Thompson Blog 8

Class Discussion: Solipsism
Today we discussed the concept of Solipsism. It was an extremely hard concept for me to truly understand. Solipsism is the philosophical idea that one's own mind is all that exists. When reading more about the topic I discovered that Denial of materialistic existence, in itself, does not constitute solipsism. Possibly the most controversial feature of the solipsistic worldview is the denial of the existence of other minds. Solipsism is therefore more properly regarded as the doctrine that, in principle, "existence" means for me my existence and that of my mental states. Existence is everything that I experience -- physical objects, other people, events and processes -- anything that would commonly be regarded as a constituent of the space and time in which I coexist with others and is necessarily construed by me as part of the content of my consciousness. For the solipsist, it is not merely the case that he believes that his thoughts, experiences, and emotions are, as a matter of contingent fact, the only thoughts, experiences, and emotions. Rather, the solipsist can attach no meaning to the supposition that there could be thoughts, experiences, and emotions other than his own. It is hard for me to imagine this condition. I do not understand how one goes about creating in their minds that they’re mind is the only one that exists. I thought that as humans we are people that crave relationships and to be attached or connected with other people by some sort of means. This idea of solipsism completely contradicts that understanding that I have.