doubting your own excistance

Cogito Ergo Sum. The only a priori statement that is absolutely true.

I can understand why it is troubling to some. I find it troublesome myself. Solipsism has been called selfish and narcissistic as well as sociopathic… but these are qualifiers for attitudes or mental conditions… not philosophic belief and should not be misconstrued as such. Solipsism suggests that absolute truth can only be determined by subjective reality and therefore particular to the individual. It logically follows that if reality is determined by an individual… and particular to the individual then only the individual exists along with a manipulator either part of or intimately connected with individual known as the evil deceiver.

Quantum Physicists theorize observer-caused wave collapse. This is harmonious with solipsism.

The human mind is limited in its capacity for realization. Ultimate reality eludes us… and that seems to be a constant. Solipsism is one limited way of viewing reality. Do solipsists insist on its unflappable unwavering all encompassing virtues? Hardly. Solipsist only recognize that it is the only absolute truth we can determine. Again… Cogito Ergo Sum… I think therefore I am… all else is speculation… every physical sensation is suspect. Like it or not.

While we are endorsing movies… “Waking Life” gets two thumbs up from me… as well as “Rushmore”… but that’s a different thread.

wow…that’s interesting…no I’ve never thought of it like that…very interesting. Oh and it’s spelled existence.

just thought id let you know… I found out in class today that hindus also think that everything is a figment of their imaginations… :)

I have thought abt that… like… maybe it really is all a matrix type setting… brr. scary thoughts lol

I’ve never thought like that - then again I don’t believe in an afterlife or heaven and hell either.

Anyway, in my opinion I have created this world around me and none of you are real.

It sounds like an alternate (and limited) way of looking at individuality. Since your brain process ALL information gathered by your senses, that makes you who you are. If an individual had no advanced brain… they would be a meat sock… no thoughts… no memories… no individual… there would BE no reality for this person.

But this is the same for ALL people… so to claim that YOUR interpretation of reality is the ONLY reality, that you created… just seem pompous, narcissistic, or megalomaniacal…

…and also totally batshit crazy…

The Matrix movies as well as The Thirteenth Floor were based on the idea that everything we see could in fact be illusion.

…don’t forget ‘’Dark City’’

Well I guess everything around us could just be created by our brain- after all it’s a really complex organ and contorls our whole body. So does this mean it controls what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch too? I’ve always wondered this and I’de hate for it to be true but I suppose we’ll never really know.

René Descartes stated “Je pense donc je suis” or “I think therefore I am.”

This states that the fact that he can do the thinking is proof that he exists. All else could be fantasy but he knows he exists.

The Matrix movies as well as The Thirteenth Floor were based on the idea that everything we see could in fact be illusion.

We all do live in our own subjective reality. I might think a woman I see is beautiful while someone might think her homely. All of our perceptions are through imperfect senses colored by our preconceptions. None of us can really know what objective reality is.

Solipsism sucks.