Solipsism: basics

In short: Solipsism is the philosophical position that only one’s own consciousness can be known to exist with certainty, while everything else, including other people, cannot be reliably proven. It is a logically hard-to-refute but practically almost untenable position.

In more detail: The term derives from the Latin “solus” (alone) and “ipse” (self).

In detail

• Epistemological problem: Everything we know about the outside world comes through our own perceptions, which could theoretically deceive us.
• Descartes’ cogito: René Descartes’ famous statement “I think, therefore I am” forms a starting point for solipsistic reasoning.
• Difference from scepticism: While scepticism expresses doubt about knowledge, solipsism actively asserts the non-existence of an external reality.
• Practical untenability: Hardly anyone actually lives consistently solipsistically, since this would make social action meaningless.
• Thought experiments: Scenarios like the “brain in a vat” raise epistemological questions similar to solipsism.
• Philosophical value: Despite its impracticality, solipsism illustrates important limits of human cognitive ability.
• Pop culture: Films like “The Matrix” take up basic solipsistic questions without explicitly naming the term (erkenntnistheorie-wissen-und-glauben, was-ist-philosophie).