solipsism
Solipsism names the stance that only one's own self and its conscious contents are certain, while the external world or other minds stay unprovable or secondary.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Definitions
- philos. An epistemological or metaphysical stance under which only one's own consciousness (the ego) is securely available, while the outer world, material bodies and other minds cannot be proved with equal immediacy (or are treated as constructs of conscious content).
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - eth. / colloq. In ethical and everyday registers: extreme focus on one's own self, close to egotism, when the word names an attitude rather than a strict thesis about the limits of proof.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - philos. In philosophical teaching: an extreme variety of subjectivism or of philosophical egoism (in Webster's sense: knowledge closed within the ego), often set up as a foil to realism about the external world and to belief in other minds.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - colloq. In journalism and casual talk: a tag for "only my self counts" or for declining to acknowledge other people's viewpoints, without a technical split between epistemology and ethics.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Examples
- The seminar kept epistemological solipsism apart from everyday egotism: one concerns boundaries of proof, the other an attitude toward others.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - Her handbook lined solipsism up against idealism, marking where a thesis about ideas ends and closure within one ego begins.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - In the debate on other minds solipsism appears as the extreme pole: if I have no direct access to another consciousness, what warrants certainty that it exists?
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - The columnist used solipsism as shorthand for self-worship, though the charge was only rhetorical.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - She weighed metaphysical solipsism against belief in an external world, asking where immediate certainty of one's own mind stops and talk of other minds begins.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Usage
Casual English often treats solipsism as a tag for extreme self-focus or for brushing aside other viewpoints. Careful prose keeps layers distinct: a thesis that only one's own consciousness is immediately certain; a metaphysical variety (the world as content of the ego); an ethical register close to egotism; and a rhetorical figure. Say which layer is meant. Otherwise the lemma melts into moral egoism, idealism and plain selfishness.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Webster 1913 under Solipsism gives L. solus alone + ipse self and two senses: ethics Egotism, metaphysics Egoism (Krauth-Fleming). Philosophical Egoism names extreme Descartes and Fichte adherents who find knowledge in the ego; separately Webster notes moral egoism as excessive love of self, opposed to altruism. Idealism there denies material bodies and limits justified belief to ideas. Skeat 1910 under SOLE (3) traces ME. sool, OF. sol, F. seul to L. solus alone, with derivatives desolate, soliloquy, solitary, solitude, solo. Open lemmas supply the facts; wording here is separate.
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913; W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 1910, open sourceArct (9th ed., 1921), under Egotyzm, records a tendency to occupy everyone with one's own person and cross-refers to Solipsyzm (OCR: wil. Solipsyzm). Nearby stand Egoizm (selfishness, self-interest), Egoista and Egotyczny (among other glosses: resting on the existence of one's own self alone). That is 1920s lexical evidence, not this site's definition. From Arct only the lexical fact and the cross-reference are taken.
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Editorial team; facts: M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open sourceFrequent pairings are philosophical solipsism, epistemological solipsism, critique of solipsism, charge of solipsism, and defence against solipsism. Solipsist names an adherent; solipsistic is the related adjective. Exact writers keep the lemma clear of realism about the external world, belief in other minds, and (in another register) altruism when the topic is moral egoism. Borders still shift by author.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)Word forms
Regular English noun, usually uncountable; the plural solipsisms is rare and marks distinct kinds or historical versions of the stance.
word forms
| przypadek | forma |
|---|---|
| singular | solipsism |
| plural | solipsisms |
Word forms: Editorial team
Collocations
- philosophical solipsism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - epistemological solipsism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - critique of solipsism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - charge of solipsism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address) - defence against solipsism
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)
Synonyms · Antonyms
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Solipsism: Metaph. Egoism), open sourcesource
Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Idealism denies material bodies; opposite pole: belief in external world), open sourceEtymology
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourcealso
W. W. Skeat, An Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, 4th ed., Oxford 1910, open sourcealso
M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 9th ed., Warsaw 1921, open sourceRelated words
- solipsist , noun: person who holds solipsism (editorial formation from solipsism + -ist)
- solipsistic , adjective: pertaining to solipsism (editorial formation from solipsism + -istic)
- egoism , related noun (philos. / eth.): in Webster Solipsism Metaph. = Egoism; also moral selfishness opposed to altruism
- egotism , related noun (eth. / colloq.): in Webster Solipsism Ethics = Egotism; Arct cross-refers Egotyzm to Solipsyzm
- idealism , related noun (didactic neighbour, philos.): in Webster denies material bodies and limits justified belief to ideas
- sole , etymologically related English adjective: alone/only, from L. solus (Webster 1913 Sole; Skeat 1910 SOLE 3)
- solipsyzm , etymologically related Polish noun
Related entries
The same entry in Polish: solipsyzm
Questions and answers
What does solipsism mean?
In philosophy it marks the claim that only one's own self and conscious contents are immediately certain, while the external world and other minds lack equal proof. Teaching often treats it as an extreme pole of subjectivism. Ethically and colloquially it can tag extreme self-focus (near egotism) or brushing aside other viewpoints. Scope follows register.
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Editorial team (in-house source, no external address)How does solipsism differ from egoism, egotism and idealism?
In Webster Solipsism in metaphysics equals philosophical Egoism (knowledge in the ego), and in ethics equals Egotism; moral Egoism is excessive love of self as against altruism. Idealism limits justified belief to ideas yet need not close within one ego. Arct cross-links Egotyzm with Solipsyzm. Casual talk blurs all four into "only I count".
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Editorial team; facts: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 (Solipsism, Egoism, Idealism); M. Arct, Słownik wyrazów obcych, 1921 (Egotyzm / Solipsyzm), open sourceWhere does the word solipsism come from?
It joins Latin solus (alone) with ipse (self / he himself), then English solipsism with the -ism ending. Webster 1913 records Solipsism, Sole and Solus. Skeat 1910 derives English sole (alone, only) from Latin solus. Arct 1921 under Egotyzm points to Solipsyzm. The English lemma follows that Latin path.
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Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, 1913, open sourceWhat are the word forms of solipsism?
The noun is regular and usually uncountable: solipsism. A plural solipsisms is rare and marks distinct kinds or historical versions of the stance. Related forms include solipsist (adherent) and solipsistic.