(January 13, 2015 at 5:47 am)robvalue Wrote: On the topic of solipsism, I would describe my opinion of the pragmatic assumptions to be on faith, but not in zeal.
Wow, that sounded like a well-tossed word salad from an experienced tosser. Anyhow.
What I mean is, I make these assumptions, from which (at a minimum) I [try to] base every other part of my reasoning. However, I do not claim that these assumptions are valid; merely necessary for any meaningful discourse or action. In fact, I'm not at all convinced they are valid. I am far from sure that what I experience is "real" as we like to think of it. I have no good independent definition of what "real" is.
Humans seem to have an amazing capacity to just not worry about this, most of the time.
The way I phrase it: I regard an objective reality to be axiomatic.
If you think about it, there's evidence that an objective reality exists. And the more machines take up the task of investigating the Universe for us, the less room there is for arguing solipsism.
