Solipsism – Only Self Can be Known to Exist

World Religions and Beliefs – Philosophy – Solipsism

Overview

Solipsism is an epistemological philosophy that you can only be certain they you or your own self exists. Solipsism holds the belief hat anything outside of ones own mind can not be known with certainty and that the external world and other minds can not be known by your mind and may not exist.

• See Epistemology

I Trust my Brain Argument

The material or naturalistic worldview that takes the position that all thought and rational are simply brain chemicals and neuron reactions is flawed using the following argument.

I can trust my brain because my brain tells me I can trust it. This reasoning is circular, self defeating and begs the question of how you can know anything. How can you know anything without appealing to your own brain. Even if you can demonstrate it or test the brain you are still trusting your own brain to determine that your observations are true, and we are back to the same problem, continuing the cycle. There is no resolution to this in a materialistic world view.

Refutation

Solipsism is difficult to refute since it implies the only things that exists is your own mind, and since the possibility remains that the mind can construct anything, it is feasible or logical to assume that everything in your reality could possible have been constructed in your own mind.

There are some refutations to solipsism such a the construction of language argument. Since in this reality it appears that you interact with other minds within the reality we experience however the use of language would not seem to be relevant if all reality existed only in your own mind. This is one primary example of experiences humans have that give evidence that our realities are comprised of not only our own experiences within our own minds, but a reality the requires multiple individual minds.

References

https://www.gotquestions.org/solipsism.html