How do you prove that you're not a figment of my imagination?

Pre-College Issues High School Life
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<p>I was reading some articles on Philosophy and I came across the idea of Solipsism, which is more or less the notion that only one's own experience, identity, and existence can be verified. It goes so far as to suggest that everyone who isn't you is some projection or product of your subconscious. </p>

<p>In simpler terms, everyone around you is some biological automaton and your entire life is a dream. </p>

<p>In even simpler terms, extreme ego-centricism. </p>

<p>I, myself, don't indulge in this frame of mind. I find it a lot more uplifting to assume that everyone I love is real... but, I thought the question itself to be interesting.</p>

<p>How does one prove they're not a figment of your imagination/subconscious matrix/etc?</p>

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<p>You can’t. That’s the great thing about solipsism- you can’t prove or disprove it</p>

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<p>Because its internalized - you cannot explain it to another person and actually “convince” them. The conversation would be along the lines of “as far as I know, I’m more or less your God.”</p>

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<p>Well I’m not quite sure how I’ve learned everything I have or how I’m even here without other people being alive. If everyone else was simply a figment of my imagination, then how the heck did my house get built, and how were all the things I have invented?</p>

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<p>@CE527M I guess the idea would be that the people who built your house were projections of your subconscious, and because they were the result of your subconscious matrix, you in your standard state of being may not necessarily know how to hammer a nail or create a blue print, but your subconscious does. The same with every other bit of information, those well read on obscure Arabic dialects, those who know how to design heat seeking missiles, those who know how to make the perfect pecan pie, are all a projection of your subconscious.</p>

<p>Solipsism, as far as I’m aware, suggests that you’re an ignorant/unknowing God.</p>

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<p>“I’m the only conscious thing in the universe” and “literally nothing exists except my mind” are two different ideas. </p>

<p>As for the first one, I can’t prove I’m not the only conscious being, but I still think it’s unlikely. Other people look like me, and their brains look essentially like mine, so most of them probably have the same kinds of things going on inside their heads. There doesn’t seem to be anything special about my frame of reference.</p>

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<p>This is confusing now.</p>

<p>I highly doubt I’m the only person/conscious person/whatever and that everything else is just made up.</p>

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<p>Solipsists really harp on the whole “its unlikely but not impossible” aspect to the whole mindset - because its internal and because the subject is only conscious of themselves (in the sense that you outwardly see and interact with others, but are only aware of your own internal-ness) you can’t validate the existence of others. </p>

<p>A (very large) part of me thinks that solipsism is pseudo-philosophy.</p>

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<p>Solipsism is just the product of a bunch of philosophy majors getting high.</p>

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<p>Isn’t that what being a philosophy major consists of?</p>

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<p>I think about this a lot…
I feel like there are just so many minute details in the world, it would be impossible for every single thing to be imagined.</p>

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<p>Rene Descartes was trippin’ balls his entire life.</p>

<p>@starlily - Yes, but those details don’t exist unless you come to realize them.</p>

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<p>I don’t think there are many actual solipsists. “What if I’m the only thing there is?” is usually posed more as a thought experiment than a genuine question. Solipsism isn’t falsifiable, so there’s no real reason why I shouldn’t be one, but that doesn’t mean I ought to be one either.</p>

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<p>I’m taking a philosophy class right now with at least a few philosophy majors in it and it’s disappointingly non-trippy. I hope it’s just because it’s an intro class or something…</p>

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<p>If I was the only person to exist, then how did I get here?</p>

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<p>Rene Descartes’ theory of methodological skepticism suggests that solipsism is basically a lens in which one can view the world. Solipsism tries to distinguish undeniable truth from BS. Rene Descartes basically believed that he himself, God, and the basic axioms of Geometry were really the only things that “were.” </p>

<p>@CE527M - idk, man, I’m just a projection of your own subconsciousness.</p>

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<p>I dunno, probably the same way the first thing that ever existed got here. Or maybe you’ve always been here and you just haven’t been conscious the whole time.</p>

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<p>I found this: [Why</a> Solipsism is ■■■■■■■■](<a href=“http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Philosophy/axioms/axioms/node43.html]Why”>http://www.phy.duke.edu/~rgb/Philosophy/axioms/axioms/node43.html). </p>

<p>It doesn’t make sense that I’d be the only “real” person alive or whatever. Or maybe I’m not even alive.</p>

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<p>Even if I imagine everything, it makes no difference.</p>

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<p>“My world is the first and only world.”</p>

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<p>@CE527M - That article makes an excellent point about the idea of pain. If I am the Almighty Creator, why do I have so much English homework to do or why have I experienced heartbreak? I need answers, philosophy.</p>