(January 13, 2015 at 1:33 pm)Alice Wrote:(January 13, 2015 at 1:16 pm)Parkers Tan Wrote: The fact that we're having this conversation means that we are each perceiving an occurrence. Shared perceptions between two otherwise unconnected minds would be evidence that those perceptions are at least somewhat accurate.
That's intersubjectivity, assuming you believe that they're another person and not just another part of your head games.
Yes. And it is evidence that there is something there about which we can compare our perceptions, that exists independent of those perceptions. What are the odds of two people holding a conversation, and both of those conversations being the solipsistic imaginings of each party involved? Zero, because if both people are imaginary, then the conversation isn't happening.
So -- at least one of those people must be real. Which one? And why?
It's much more parsimonious to ascribe reality to both people.
That means that their intersubjective comparisons may well be describing an objective reality insofar as they overlap.
And that's why I say that this conversation is evidence that solipsism is not a useful frame of reference for understanding personal experience.
(January 13, 2015 at 1:33 pm)Alice Wrote:Quote:Now, if you wish to argue that you're not real, have at it.
That'd be pointless, after all... Everything is real. It has to be... otherwise it wouldn't exist.
Exactly.
(January 13, 2015 at 1:33 pm)Alice Wrote: At the end of the day, solipsism is anything but wrong... but unlike the solipsists: I am not faithless.
Just as are my thoughts evidence for my being... so too is any descriptor to define that which already is.
The solipsistic view would still be that it all exists... but in one's head/in their flawed perceptions of the universe. I am not so full of myself as to believe I am causing all of this, that I could even do this... and I've a talent for world and character building at that.
Flawed perceptions are one thing. We all have them from time to time, and there's no argument about them that I know of. That is a far cry from positing that there is no objective reality, or that we cannot demonstrate one.
