Types of SOLIPSISM in philosophy

In today's class of a Teacher we are going to study the different types of solipsism that exist. Solipsism is a philosophical current that affirms that the only thing we can be sure of is that there is only the self and that what surrounds us can only be understood through our mind (the self), that is, there is only that of which the individual is aware.

Solipsism as such was first mentioned by Giulio clemente scotti (S.XVII), had as its maximum representative George Berkley (S.XVII) and progressively developed into four types: solipsism metaphysical, solipsism epistemological, solipsism methodological and the egocentric presenteeism.

If you want to know more about this current and its types, keep reading this article by a PROFESOR because here we explain it to you in detail. Let's start!

To understand what is solipsism, first we have to analyze the word itself, which is made up of the Latin words: solus=alone, ipse=same and suffix ism=doctrine.

That is, solipsism is the philosophical doctrine of

Likewise, according to this current we must doubt of the entire environment that surrounds us because everything is an emanation of our mind (sensible world), what we believe to be real from our own perspective or consciousness. In short, solipsism comes to tell us that "I only know that I exist" and everything that exists, exists only in my mind”.

On the other hand, we must also mention that the first to tell us about solipsism as we know it today was Giulio Clement Scott in his work Monarchia solipsorum (1645) and that the main representative of him was the philosopher and bishop George Berkley with his work Three dialogues between Hylas and Philonus (1713).

Thus, for Berkley, from the Christian conception of it, everything that surrounds us is imbued with what spiritual and that everything we perceive or live is part of that spiritual essence. Therefore, everything that exists exists because we perceive it from our mind (sensible world).

Throughout the history of philosophy, solipsism has been developing, giving rise to various types of solipsism:

1. metaphysical solipsism This type of solipsism is directly linked to subjective idealism, according to which ideas depend on subjectivity of the individual who perceives them (Descartes, Berkeley, Kant and Fichte). In this way, from metaphysical solipsism it is defended that the only thing that exists is the self and that the rest (the world, the objects, reality or people) is part of our imagination: representations of our self that do not exist outside of that me
2. Egocentric Presentism/Perspective Realism: It is another of the types of solipsism that exist and was developed by Hare Dandruff, who affirms that there are no past or future events (they are imaginary) and that people are aware, but have different experiences (perception) about the same event.
3. Epistemological solipsism: From epistemological solipsism it is argued that the world/external reality is not false, but obeys something that from our mind is not interpretable (a question that has no solution) and, therefore, we cannot affirm that the external world is something independent of our mind or perception, since it is something that we will never know and that is irresolvable.
4. Methodological solipsism: The last of the types of solipsism is the one that establishes, contrary to the rest of solipsisms, that what perceive from our mind is part of the external world or reality and that this world is based on facts created from our own consciousness subjective impressions and in the knowledgeinnate ideas of the individual himself. Therefore, knowledge and its arguments are built from the self and depend on the subjectivity of the individual who perceives reality: perception is needed to confirm the truth of things thus approaching the skepticism.

Now that you know the different types of solipsism, let's discover its main ideas. They are the following:

• Solipsism claims that the individual can only confirm his own existence and no other: other things or people can exist for me and may or may not have consciousness.
• The thoughts of the individual they are the only and really true ones: there is nothing in the world but man and his consciousness.
• denies the existence of other worlds or realities, there is only the world/reality of the individual himself.
• the experiences or own sensations are private: it is not possible to know the experience and sensations of others and to know if they are like mine.
• It all comes down to meas the only real existence and what is known as the external world is a perception that starts from within my self (= everything is reduced to the sphere of the self and we cannot get out of it) and has no real independence.
• Solipsism divides the universe in two: one part controlled by the conscious mind and another part controlled by the unconscious mind.
• Science has no place because all knowledge starts and is created from the sensation of the individual.

Ayala, H. (2003). Solipsism and external world in the philosophy of G.W. Leibniz. Polytechnic university of Valencia.