solipsism

noun

so·lip·sism ˈsō-ləp-ˌsi-zəm

ˈsä-

: a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing

also : extreme egocentrism

solipsist

ˈsō-ləp-sist

ˈsä-ləp-

sə-ˈlip-

noun

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French philosopher René Descartes (1596-1650) can be blamed for the idea that if one whittles away beliefs about which one cannot be certain, one will eventually land at the existence of the self as a singular certainty; however, he cannot be blamed for either the word solipsism or the theory it refers to. (Descartes avoided falling into solipsism by positing that ideas known with the same clarity as the existence of the self is known must also be true.) Philosophical application of the word likely owes something to the French translation of a satiric work written by Venetian scholar Giulio Clemente Scotti in 1645 called Monarchia Solipsorum —in French, La Monarchie des Solipses. The pertinent term is a composite of the Latin solus ("alone") and ipse ("self").

Examples of solipsism in a Sentence

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There were critiques: some philosophers quibbled with the specifics of Paul’s decision modelling, others with the solipsism of focussing so much on the expectant parent rather than on the child or the world writ large. —

Alice Gregory, The New Yorker, 2 Dec. 2024 The show has fallen too in love with itself to do anything so interesting, burrowing deeper into the solipsism of its characters such that everybody’s more worried about the success of a play than the fact that a human actually died. —

Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 17 July 2024 The quote in my review that expresses the strongest subjectivism, though, the quote that seems to send him toward a kind of solipsism, is from the introduction to his earlier Theoretical Biology. —

Peter Godfrey-Smith, The New York Review of Books, 6 June 2024 Part of the kick on Brat is Charli’s delirious solipsism, all synthetic robot rah-rah in the beats, but with vocals swerving between defiant egomania and vulnerably tormented self-doubt. —

Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 11 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for solipsism