A lot of people have argued all throughout history over the topic of how the world was created. Many religions feel the need to argue with one another in attempts to prove which one of them is right, even if some of the origin stories are very similar to one another. Others believe in the Big Bang, and that there is a scientific explanation for the creation of the world rather than a theological one. Despite these arguments, it is usually agreed that the world around us is real one way or another. However, it can never be proven that this is the case.
Solipsism states that everything in the external world is created by one’s mind. Therefore, according to this theory, there would only be one person in existence. Everything and everyone that the person ever encountered would only be a figment of his or her imagination.
It is easy for people to argue that this theory is ridiculous. After all, if you can reach out and touch another person, that should prove that they are there. On the other hand, those who believe in solipsism would say that your mind is just making you think that your fingers touched something, when in reality you are standing on a blank plane doing nothing at all. It’s fully possible that you don’t even have a body, but your mind perceives that you do. If you were to meet a person and ask them if they were real, your mind might make them insist that yes, they were a real person, to trick you into believing realism, the popular belief that the external world exists separately from one’s mind.
No matter how you try to refute the argument that solipsism might be right, you will fail. There is nothing you can say that can’t be argued back with “that’s what your mind wanted you to perceive.” Even conversations about whether or not the world is real could be explained as part of you catching on to the fact that the world isn’t real, and therefore your mind makes your peers insist that they are real. It’s a strange thing to consider, but it’s definitely possible that you are alone in your own brain.
Do I believe in solipsism? No. Not only is it much more convenient to believe in realism, it’s also easier to live a good life if you believe that your actions affect other, real people. If a person believed that nothing else around them was real, they might be tempted to break some of the laws, assuming that it wouldn’t matter. If it turns out that the world is real, he or she could cause quite a mess. As long as we don’t believe that we are the only thing in existence, it is possible for our lives to have meaning. Therefore, I don’t think that this theory should ever be considered with complete seriousness, but it’s certainly something to think about.
