Solipsism

== What is it? ==
Solipsism is a state of being whereby the self is the only thing known to exist, it's what Descartes dances around when he throws out all his beliefs at the start of the Meditations and falls back on '''I think therefore I am'. If you were unable to logic your way further than that simple statement, you would be stuck in the Philosophical purgatory that is Solipsism.
Descartes escapes using the God card, in that, he believes that God would not allow him to remain in that state (or be messed with by an evil demon, but that's another matter) and so he begins to rebuild his world view. However, if you reject his thesis, it is possible to become stuck in the quagmire.
There are also those who would reject Descartes' tennant that he can prove he exists (in some form), just by thinking, whereas a more accurate statement would be 'I think, therefore I have thoughts', which just leaves you even more trapped.
Category:Philosophy of Mind
Category:Descartes
Category:S