by William Del Grande

Created on: May 07, 2008

Boy you got-to love a good debate about whether the world or anything in it truly exists or not! I can debate both sides of this story for a life time. In fact, some spend their lives doing just that, and solipsist's are among those who do. Solipsism is a different spin on the views unearthed in the movie The Matrix. There's just one hitch, solipsism's been around long before The Matrix. British idealist, F.H. Bradley wrote about solipsism in his book, Appearance and Reality back in 1897. Even before that the Greek's were tossing this theory around back in 425 A.D. Solipsism is the philosophy that promulgates that anything outside the mind is unjustified, therefore does not exist.

What a grand concept to debate! Are our own personal subjective experiences that of spontaneous reactions caused by the mind and nothing more? If you really think about it, you can certainly understand the philosophy behind solipsism if not the science. One cannot prove that everything around him/her is not made up by the mind; a figment of your imagination. What is real, what is not? This goes far beyond the question, "If a tree falls in the woods does it make a sound?" This question asks, "Does the tree even exist at all?" Solipsism is the ultimate in selfish philosophies. If you are a solipsist and someone asks you, "What, do you think the world revolves around you?" You can say with all seriousness, "As a mater of fact YES it does!" Solipsism is not just a single concept or it does not have just one definition, but instead refers to several worldly views whose common element is some form of denial of the existence of a universe independent from the mind of the agent.

Nothing can truly be proven to exist some will tell you. What I love about the philosophy of solipsism is the notion that the world as we've been taught or as we know it is not that at all! The world is nothing but a personal mental delusion, a dream, evident in the lyrics of the song, Row your boat. But just as Jimmy said, "But you and I we've been through that, and this is not our fate." Ultimately, solipsism sounds to me as if it's the promulgated philosophy of a spoiled little brat or a mad scientist. In any event, nothing is axiomatic in this case. We can not truly denounce "reality" nor can we truly prove it exists. I'd rather believe that I'm not alone, rather than it's broody counterpart. Moreover, it is irresponsible and dangerous to be a solipsist. If nothing else exists, what's stopping me from robbing that bank, or cutting in line, or senseless murder?

I played a game called Grand Theft Auto on the Play Station 2 console, and ran around for countless hours murdering innocent bystanders. In that game I was a solipsist and believe me, that was not a very safe world. Philosopher, Ledger Wood, wrote in his book Solipsism, "Metaphysical solipsism is the variety of idealism which maintains that the individual self of the solipsistic philosopher is the whole of reality and that the external world and other persons are representations of that self having no independent existence" (Wood, 295)

If you really take a minute to think about this philosophy, it is a very selfish one, and its one that if it is true, what really can be gained by this? What can be gained by believing that you are really the only thing that exists and everything else you see, hear, taste smell, and touch are all in your imagination? This idealistic, anti-materialistic concept, if believed, is almost setting one's self up for a lifetime of depression and isolation. So, solipsism is a great theory to kick around, but in the grand scheme of things, not a very good philosophy to live by.

Learn more about this author, William Del Grande.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.