If Solipsism is true, doesn't that mean that Solipsism is false?

So I was reading about Solipsism and it said that everything is an illusion and nothing is real except my own mind. If everything outside of me is an illusion and I learned about Solipsism on the internet, doesn't that mean that it is false since if it were true everything outside of me would only be an illusion anyway?

That is the paradox. Everything matters, but nothing really matters. It is matrix dream construct. Obviously if it didnt feel real you would never have believed it. Hence dreams seem real when you are dreaming them. That is until you wake up from a dream in to another dream while dreaming you were a dreamer dreaming. Watch the movie Inception and you will see it ;-)

reply to post by Epsillion70


It's not really like the movie the matrix or inception because at least in those movies you can wake up and see a "true" reality. Solipsism says that the only reality that is real is in your mind and everything else is an illusion. There is no dreaming, there is no waking up. Just a continuous reality of illusions. So if Solipsism is true and everything is indeed an illusion, then so is the idea of Solipsism since that had to be learned and I didn't already know it internally. It's a concept that I've learned about through the internet which is also an illusion. Since everything is an illusion and there is no "real" reality, then I can't wake up to every know if Solipsism is true or not.

.....and the great Philosopher, Like the unnamed God before him, pondered himself out of existence whilst contemplating the nature of reality...

Originally posted by redbarron626
.....and the great Philosopher, Like the unnamed God before him, pondered himself out of existence whilst contemplating the nature of reality...

What on Earth are you talking about? How does this relate to the natural of Solipsism which was at discussion here?

maybe my own mind invented this thread, which means you dont exist and the idea that you put forth dose not exist, that everyone is just a part of my mind and all the distractions are there for my entertainment lol

just my 2 cents

reply to post by arpgme


did you not read the previous posts? I mean seriously ... de de de

No it does not mean it is not real. All that happens is the goal posts move. Reality still exists but it is a reality within the mind.....All reality is relative..

Solipsism seems to be a very attractive idea these days. Not packaged exactly like that, but there are some popular versions that aren't logically too far off.

New Age thinkers, taking their queue from Hindu tradition, often have indulged in a worldview that says that we, all of us, the universe too, all is "god". Further, our individual experiences are all illusion, that individuality is illusion, etc. It's all just "god" experiencing various facets of the whole, and we are deluded, never "remembering" that we are just god dreaming.

It's sort of "divine solipsism", although few ever see the parallels.

Could it be that the notion itself contains contradiction, just as the OP senses that something isn't quite right with solipsism? Or, is the circle so tight that any reasoning to the contrary can easily be dispensed with, since after all, how could we ever "know" we weren't dreaming or were deluded?

What would the implications be, for someone locked into a belief system, that included something so "air-tight"? How would they ever "escape" such a notion (delusion?), if every time, they came back to the same wall, and inscribed upon it was, "You will never know that you aren't just deluded / dreaming!"??

JR

S & F, might get someone thinking!

I have to respectfully disagree.
Hypothetically, Silopsism is not false and definitely not a paradox of any sort. When you see the term Silopsism, it's Silopsism as well. A neat trick about it... if it's true of course is "practical repeatable Deja Vu" but only if you are inquiring about it. It's possible that it's like Silopsism's "belly button"... but not really. It's cool you're looking it up.

reply to post by arpgme


No, it means this is how your mind explains itself to itself. Why can't you communicate to yourself through the illusion?

I wouldn't ponder on it for too long. After all, we aren't even having this discussion. How could we? We don't even exist.

reply to post by nyk537


The illusion isn't existence its how existence is understood and defined if i am correct. There obviously is a sense of awareness relating to self.

Originally posted by arpgme
So I was reading about Solipsism and it said that everything is an illusion and nothing is real except my own mind.

...except consciousness

If everything outside of me is an illusion

There is no 'outside' of me, that is the illusion.

and I learned about Solipsism on the internet, doesn't that mean that it is false since if it were true everything outside of me would only be an illusion anyway?

See above

If someone heavily mentally ill and cant even know himself and cant even think, for him nothing is real even his mind that not even exist.

And what about reality for few months child?

Originally posted by scratchmane

If everything outside of me is an illusion

There is no 'outside' of me, that is the illusion.

See above

That is not Solipsism, that's Monism. You are saying that there is no outside of you, that is monism. Solipsism is saying that there is an outside of you but it cannot be understood because it is all fake - an illusion. It is not like monism saying that all is one and it is not a matrix reality saying that we are in a dream or whatever.

Originally posted by arpgme
That is not Solipsism, that's Monism. You are saying that there is no outside of you, that is monism. Solipsism is saying that there is an outside of you but it cannot be understood because it is all fake - an illusion. It is not like monism saying that all is one and it is not a matrix reality saying that we are in a dream or whatever.

From wiki: Solipsism (/ˈsɒlɨpsɪzəm/) is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. The term comes from Latin solus (alone) and ipse (self). Solipsism is an epistemological or ontological position that knowledge of anything outside one's own specific mind is unjustified. The external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist. In the history of philosophy, solipsism has served as a skeptical hypothesis.

My highlighting. It is in other words unjustified to have a notion of an external world. I cannot prove anything exists 'outside' consciousness, and never will. The 'inside' world is Self evident.

Since only consciousness is Self evident and I cannot know anything outside consciousness, what logical conclusion can I reach other than accepting existence as consciousness?

And existence is monistic or singular.

Originally posted by arpgme
If everything outside of me is an illusion and I learned about Solipsism on the internet, doesn't that mean that it is false

My interpretation of that conundrum is this.

If everything is illusory, including the very idea that everything is illusory, then this idea simultaneously gives credence to every other perspective that can possibly be conceived.

That means if two people hold two contradictory views, one or the other or both may be right or wrong simultaneously, depending on what the frame of reference is.

In a way this is the universe's way of allowing everything to exist simultaneously, including apparent contradictions. It's all just coming from different perspectives, all of them equally meaningless (or meaningful) in the end.

reply to post by arpgme


Thanks for the thread on this. I was recently accused of this philosophy (along with Sophism), however, my beliefs would not be contained by its parameters (nor by the parameters of Sophism).

I tend to take the cosmos to be an altar upon which physical life is planted, tended to, and spiritual life is reaped from. This process grows spiritual fruit from even the depths of nothingness. Another way this can be seen is; The cosmos are a womb in which many children are born. Sometimes the fertilized egg receives the glory of life, and sometimes the fertilized egg receives the glory of life perpetual. Neither of which is guaranteed to all for the purpose of "equal opportunity," but certainly both are fully glorious as opposed to the cosmos remaining void. In other words, those who are granted life perpetual are the spiritual fruit that God planted, of Their own breath of life, within the cosmos while those who are granted only physical life are part of the "womb" in the same way that the leaves of a tree fertilize the same ground that produces the fruit.

I suppose whatever philosophy labels me must include cyclical understandings.
I have no issue, at this time with any version of "the beginning," and I am still not particularly sure about "the end," except for a "reaping" of some kind (which very well may simply be death in general). Either way, it should change a wise man's (or woman's) daily task-list very little.

Regarding Solipsism; Solipsism seems mostly, to me, to be a way to falsely call into order that which is both objectively and subjectively chaos. However, that which is chaos (and that which is pride) cuts itself off from "life" anyway.

An interesting creature to ponder regarding the interconnectedness of life is any Siphonophora.
An interesting condition to ponder regarding chaotic souls is Cancer.
An interesting condition to ponder regarding prideful souls is Autoimmune Disease.

Anyone else notice that the body of Mankind has both Cancers and Autoimmune Diseases?

Originally posted by arpgme

Originally posted by redbarron626
.....and the great Philosopher, Like the unnamed God before him, pondered himself out of existence whilst contemplating the nature of reality...

What on Earth are you talking about? How does this relate to the natural of Solipsism which was at discussion here?

Once you understand that, then your question will be answered.

Seriously, not trying to be funny at all.

That quote explains the nature of things and the paradox, and it is exactly equivalent to your OP.