Ok, so here is my homework assignment to post about solipsism. When I looked up the definition it stated that solipsism is a "philosophy. the theory that only the self exists, or can be proved to exist." The second definition stated an, "extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one's feelings, desires, etc.; egoistic self-absorption." It sounds to me like... the result of thinking/believing that the world only exists through one's own mind and not learning to think about the world through the experience of others creates in one self a heightened sense of self importance. I believe this philosophy plagues the average white, middle-upper class American. So busy worrying about ourselves and our needs, that we do not need to worry about other's feelings and desires. When we do think about other's desires it is to satisfy our own desires. (OK, so I said we and our, but this is cause the white, middle-upper class Americans is where I come from, whether I like that or not I am part of their group, thus I feel comfortable talking about our experience.) So now I need input from all of you as to prevent me from thinking about this from my strictly my point of view. (And its not more in depth cause I am going to keep wrestling with my midterm themes.)
3 comments:
some thoughts:
i think EVERYONE in this culture (united states and its exports) is disciplined to be solipsistic - the idea that what it's really all about is ourselves. i think one way this manifests is with Christianity's understanding of a one-on-one relationship with God. am I a good enough person? am I moral? am I right? gaining from other people merely a reflection of oneself. in this way i think solipsism can actually look like humility even though the focus, yes, is on self-importance.
Emiko, do you think you could elaborate on how this can be a manifest of humility? In the way that we (global north) seek to confirm that our own feelings or thoughts of humanity, morals etc. are correct by equating others experiences to our own?
That's how I think about solipsism, which is why I think its a really good idea, and the reason I really struggle with piggy backing on others experiences. Because I have a tendency to do this as way to feel affirmed with my own feelings in order to feel connected and be normal in relation to others. Does that make any sense? What does everyone/anyone think?
what made me think of humility in connection with solipsism was in thinking about examples where someone 'confesses' to being racist, sexist, what-have-you, in ways that only connect to themselves AS racist or sexist and by this (ironically) eliminating connections with others. someone can take the idea of being racist and be solipsistic about it -- it looks like humility in an acknowledgment of racism, but in fact, the acknowledgment is tied only to themselves as a 'good' or 'bad' being.
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