(September 14, 2015 at 5:31 pm)Rational AKD Wrote:(September 14, 2015 at 3:07 pm)Captain Scarlet Wrote: Premise 1 and 2 is flawed to me. Solipsism would produce a consciousness conscious only of itself and thus a metaphysical contradiction.
so you never heard of self awareness or introspection? this is where the phrase 'I think therefore I am' comes from. everything else you say builds on that one point so i'll leave it at that.
Only if you subscribe to this Cartesian view. Self awareness does not bootstrap everything else. We can be certain we are conscious, and we can be certain that we are conscious of something. This means there is an external reality. Self awarenes is a feature of our conciousness. Introspection is useful but it is demonstrabley not the optimal way of uncovering truths. What truths have been uncovered through Introspection? Truth requires extrospection and perception through our senses. To hold solipsism and idealism as a real possibility is to deny the very things you need to affirm idealism and solipsism. A blind man cannot form the concept of colour, someone who promotes idealism cuts off their own head, in order to state "look I have no head".
"I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence"...Doug McLeod.
