I saw the term recently and tried to look it up, but every article/definition I found seemed to assume every person reading it has a degree in psychology or something. Please spare me the fancy technical terms and just explain it simply like I know absolutely nothing about philosophy, idealism, or psychology (because I don’t). Similes or examples would also be very appreciated, if possible.
**Note: Not sure why, but there wasn’t an option to list this post under a “Psychology” flair/tag even though there clearly seems to be one, as other posts are marked with it on this subreddit. That’s why it’s tagged “Other” instead.*
In: Other
Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of knowledge and similar concepts: what does it mean to know something? How can we know stuff?
Solipsism is usually taken as the skeptic belief that the only thing existing in the world is you or your mind, or rather, being unsure that anything exists outside of it.
Epistemological solipsism (damn that’s a mouthful) can be thought of like this: you know what’s going on in your mind. You have thought and feeling and all those neat stuff originate in your mind itself. But every thing you know about the world – how it looks or sounds, the existence of other people – all that comes from outside your mind and through your senses. The solipsist argues that you can know that these things exist as you perceive them or at all.
Descartes asked this very question in a way that makes sense: you put your spoon in your cup of water and it looks like it’s snapped in half. You’re smart though, and you say “I know my eyes are tricking me, and the spoon is intact”. Well, if your eyes tricked you then, how do you know they don’t always trick you? How can you ever be sure of anything your senses perceive?
Many philosophers tried to tackle this question, from Descartes, Locke, Kant and more. All of their solution rely on something you take for certain – the existence of outside objects, your sensory input, or even god.
Epistemology is the study of the nature and scope of knowledge and justified belief. It analyzes the nature of knowledge and how it relates to similar notions such as truth, belief and justification. It also deals with the means of production of knowledge, as well as skepticism about different knowledge claims.
If you do really want to understand what Epistemological Solipsism is, you need to read some introductory books on Western philosophy, especially the subjects of Realism and Idealism.
In (very) short terms: Epistemological Solipsism is the view that the self cannot know with absolute certainty that any entity exists independently of the existence of the self’s own consciousness, given that the very idea of an independently existing entity is itself an element of consciousness.
But as I mentioned, there is a lot more to it than that, and there are many counter arguments.
I hope that helped.
Latest Answers