Nothing Exists But You | The Philosophy of Solipsism
The ancient Taoist philosopher Zhuangzi once dreamt he was a butterfly. He felt free, flying from flower to flower, doing the things a butterfly does. He didn’t doubt he was a butterfly and had forgotten that he was Zhuangzi. When he woke up, he realized that he was Zhuangzi dreaming that he was a butterfly. But then he started wondering if his premise was true: was he really Zhuangzi dreaming he was a butterfly or is he a butterfly dreaming he’s Zhuangzi? Even though the latter statement seems ridiculous, there isn’t a definite way to prove its falsity.
All we know is that we have a consciousness capable of perception. But when we think of it, there’s no way to know if what we perceive exists outside our minds. The chair you’re sitting on, the screen you’re staring at, the clouds passing in the sky, and the neighbors walking their dogs could all be an illusion. From Zhuangzi’s viewpoint, how absurd it may seem, we may be butterflies dreaming we’re human beings, which means that the world around us is a dream world, and the real world revolves around flowers, pollen, and insects.
Zhuangzi’s story shows us how little certainty we possess regarding the outside world. At the same time, we have certain preconceptions about the world. For example, we assume that the human beings we perceive are similar to ourselves, possessing a consciousness akin to our own. But can we prove it? So far, it’s been impossible, as we can’t cross the boundaries of our own consciousness; we cannot enter other people’s minds and look at the world from their perspective, so we can’t be sure if their consciousness exists.
This so-called ‘problem of other minds’ forms the basis of a philosophical position named ‘solipsism.’ Solipsism denies that the human mind has any valid reason for believing that anything outside itself exists, which is a pretty radical standpoint to take. But who knows: could it be that despite the vastness of the universe (or so it seems), only you exist?
This video explores the philosophy of solipsism. “What is real? How do you define real? If you’re talking about what you can feel, what you can smell, what you can taste and see, then real is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain,” says Morpheus, one of the main characters of The Matrix film, when showing Neo he has been living in an imaginary world his whole life. So, what’s real? Are the things our senses perceive the things they appear to be or just perceptions?
The problem with defining reality is that we’re limited to our perceptions. The world we perceive may not be the same as the world truly is, as we can’t look at the world beyond our senses; we only see what our senses pick up and what our minds make of it. Philosopher Immanuel Kant concerned himself with the relationship between object and subject. He wondered to what extent the object is represented when the subject perceives it.
He stated: "Things which we see are not by themselves what we see. It remains completely unknown to us what the objects may be by themselves and apart from the receptivity of our senses. We know nothing but our manner of perceiving them." End quote. So, how can we be sure if what we see is what we see?
The people living in the Matrix, for example, perceive the world in ways similar to human perception of an actual world from the past; other people, traffic, food, and other forms familiar to humans. However, the reality of the Matrix isn’t the forms identified by its prisoners but green lines of code, which Neo manages to see when he becomes enlightened. Thus, the Matrix is an illusion; what we see as the world consists of nothing more than code.
In reality, this could be the case as well. Again, as Kant mentioned, “It remains completely unknown to us what the objects may be by themselves and apart from the receptivity of our senses.” How do we know that what we see is real? According to our senses, the world may come across as genuine, but we only view it from a single perspective; there’s no way of knowing the world’s actual substance if we don’t embody the other side – the external world – and take a look from there.
But seeing from the other side’s perspective is impossible; we cannot escape our point of view. We could say that we’re prisoners of our minds, restricted to looking at the environment from a single window. But if that’s the case, how do we know if the world we see through that window is real? What if nothing we see is really there, as the window is actually a view into our own minds?
Imagine that nothing exists except minds and their perceptions. The whole universe wouldn’t actually be there externally, as it’s a creation of the perceiver. The idea that our experiences of the external world depend on the perceiving mind (and thus are mere perceptions) led to a philosophy called ‘subjective idealism,’ developed by a philosopher named George Berkeley, who stated: "The question between the materialists and me is not, whether things have a real existence out of the mind of this or that person, but whether they have an absolute existence, distinct from being perceived by God, and exterior to all minds." End quote.
Berkeley questioned the existence of anything outside of our senses. If this sounds extreme, we may ask ourselves: have I ever seen anything exterior to my perception? For example, we experience a collection of books in a closet because we see them. But how can we prove they’re still there if we don’t look at them?
We can let a friend watch them when we’re gone, or we can point a camera at them, but in both cases, the books in the closet are still under supervision. Who knows if the books, when nobody and nothing is watching, will change their form or just disappear? As we can’t experience non-experience, we can never know whether or not the things we perceive do also exist in an absolute sense. For all we know, nothing exists beyond our minds, which Berkeley believed.
According to him, the reality of the outside world depends on the “knower.” He proposed his position using three Latin words: Esse est percipi, meaning “To be is to be perceived.” Even though he wasn’t a solipsist, Descartes made an observation fundamental to solipsist philosophy. He concluded that the only truth he couldn’t rationally doubt was his own existence. Hence, his famous words: “cogito ergo sum,” I think, therefore, I am.
Your own existence is something you can’t go around. You can imagine yourself not existing, but the mere fact you’re trying already implies your existence. But, as we’ve discussed already, we can’t say that about the outside world. As we’re limited to our perceptions, the outside world, exterior to our minds, could be imaginary or something entirely different than it appears to be. Some believe we’re part of a simulated reality. And for a few, we’re butterflies dreaming we’re people.
Some of these ideas are debatable, others absurd. But the variety of these theories indicates a lack of certainty. On the other hand, the place in which these ideas dwell (the mind) is something we can be sure of exists. Solipsism is a philosophical position born from skepticism that could arise when we contemplate Descartes’ conclusion. If your own existence is the only thing you know for sure, what stops you from being skeptical about everything outside of you?
All you perceive may be an illusion, even other people. Furthermore, you, and only you, may be the only thing in existence. If you believe that only you exist, you’re a solipsist. To many, the solipsist viewpoint may sound absurd. And most people probably agree that someone embracing the solipsistic worldview has taken his skepticism about the reality of the outside world to the extreme.
Unsurprisingly, criticism against solipsism exists. A well-known attempt to refute solipsism is the so-called argument from analogy. As you know the contents of your own mind, as an individual who clearly belongs to the human species by all your attributes, like bodily features, emotional reactions, ways of thinking, and so forth, it’s fair to say that the minds of other people are similar. From your observations, you seem just one of many equipped with consciousness.
Moreover, our upbringing and functioning depend on social contexts; other people raise us, teach us language, and pose as role models. It seems pretty crazy to think that only you exist, given life’s many clues telling us we’re not alone. However, from a solipsistic viewpoint, there’s an issue here: the so-called ‘problem of other minds.’ Even though people may behave in ways similar to ours, there’s no definitive proof of their minds existing.
As long as we can’t cross the boundaries of our own consciousness, there’s no reason to assume that the beings we perceive possess conscious minds of their own. Thus, from this viewpoint, attributing consciousness to a human being is as valid as attributing it to a wooden table, as physical properties like the human brain, behaviors, and emotions are no definitive proof of consciousness.
Again, as Zhuangzi realized after his butterfly dream, we can only be sure about our own consciousness as we experience it directly. Although it seems unlikely, there are different scenarios if the solipsist theory is true (and you are indeed the only one in this world who truly exists). For example, you could be part of a simulated reality, in which the people you observe are just computer programs acting like human beings.
Questions you could ask yourself here are: why would this simulation exist? Where does the human ‘image’ come from? Were they a species in the past, and am I the only survivor? Or is it just a random projection from my mind? And what’s my role in this? Another scenario would be that you’re the only human alive participating in a giant experiment; you’re surrounded by ‘automatons’ that look, sound, smell, feel, and act like humans but are without consciousness.
Again, you could ask: what’s the purpose of this experiment? What’s my role in it? Where does the human ‘image’ come from? Yet, another possibility could be that you’re in some kind of dream. In a dream, you’re not just the only person in existence, but everything you see is you; it’s all part of your mind, meaning that nothing exists outside your consciousness.
The whole universe around you is a product of your imagination, including all the people. So, who knows, someday you’ll wake up (literally or figuratively) realizing that all your life experiences weren’t what they appeared to be, and all the people you’ve met along the way were either fake or imagined; all that time you’ve been alone. Thank you for watching.