Solipsism
Latin sōlus, alone + ipse, self
Solipsism refers to the philosophical belief that only one's own mind is sure to exist. In everyday use, it also describes self-absorption: living with little regard for what other people think, need or want.
First principles
Solipsism is the self taken for the whole world.
As philosophy, it holds that only your own mind is certain to exist; everything outside it is open to doubt. As a way of living, it treats other people as scenery in your story rather than selves with stories of their own. Either way, nothing outside can answer back, so nothing outside can change you.
At its core, it asks:
- What can I be sure of?Only my own mind is given to me directly; everything else is inferred.
- Do other minds count?Solipsism begins when other people become scenery rather than selves.
- What breaks the circle?Something that answers back: a voice, a fact, a world that does not come from me.
Etymology
- sōlus
- alone, only
- ipse
- self, itself
The word solipsism comes from the Latin sōlus meaning "alone" and ipse meaning "self," with the suffix -ism. Combined, they form "the self alone." The idea it names is often traced to the 17th-century thinkers René Descartes and Thomas Hobbes.