Talk:Solipsism syndrome

This article was nominated for deletion on 15 February 2007. The result of the discussion was keep.

This obviously needs to be Wikified and edited, I grabbed it from NASA and couldn't find a copyright for it anywhere, so I assume it's public domain. If not, some of the facts are here at least. --Our Bold Hero 07:28, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes indeed. In particular the stuff about 'extraterrestrial communities' needs some explanation. Ben Finn 13:20, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Yes I was going to say that too. It just sort of comes our of nowhere. I had to go back and read again just to be sure I was not in some article about a sci-fi universe or something. Dalf | Talk 06:56, 7 Jun 2005 (UTC)

It's a poor choice in word, though it does make sense to a very limited extent. I think by extraterrestrial the author was trying to imply orbital habitats or non-terrestrial habitats such as in submarines and the like, though the term 'extraterrestrial' defined as originating from outside of the Earth. It should certainly be reworded to discuss controllable environments, rather than 'extraterrestrial communities' - I don't think the author intended to write about aliens ;) Blairco | Talk 10:56, 31 Jan 2007 (EST)

"television as a substitute for reality"

I'm not sure that "television as a substitute for reality" is anything more than pure speculation. It stands out as a serious claim that requires evidence and reasoning. Perhaps expand on it in later sections or cut it out, completely? As it is, it's a throw-away statement that really adds nothing to the article. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 205.173.93.39 (talk) .

The statement, now removed, came from the NASA appendix and was "It is also known to occur in some youths who have been brought up on television as a substitute to reality." I'm including it here because I think that it should go back in when it can be included with sufficient sourcing and more useful detail. There have been people who reported (in retrospect, after overcoming solipsism syndrome) that they thought that movies were made about their own lives, and that this seemed natural because of the way that television seems to be directly catering to the single viewer. I think this is correlated sometimes with reported experiences of near-constant uncanny syncronicity and possibly schizophrenia. — Coelacan | talk 03:57, 21 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Failure to distinguish being internally and externally consistent...

While solipsism is internally consistent, it is not externally consistent.

That distinction needs to be made so readers are aware that solipsism is not actually a valid way of thinking about reality. Solipsism, like many other metaphysical philosophies, is simply a "what if" scenario and not an objective description of the actual physics of reality.

Only if one accepts the premises that solipsism proposes without question, can the philosophy be perceived as internally consistent.

There are numerous examples of obviously make believe storytales and religions that also are internally consistent, as well as not being able to be disproved. This only serves to illustrate just how logically dishonest the term "not being disprovable" is. A thing is either provable or disprovable -- there is no such thing as "not being disprovable". What "not being disprovable" actually means is that the arguments presented are so far beyond the reach of external facts, provable facts, and/or a reason for the extension of known facts, that one can only accept the proposed premises purely by blind faith acceptance of them.

That does not mean that metaphysical philosophies do not serve some useful purpose, but rather they serve to help us understand our own psychology and (mis)perceptions of reality.

70.190.199.60 02:13, 27 July 2006 (UTC)The_Sage[reply]

I learned something from this page, solipsism syndrome, so would hate to see it deleted altogether. Clearly, however, the philosophical issue of solipsism itself should dominate and organize all the material on solipsism. So this ought to be encorporated under the main article. Don't feel like I am enough of a member of the community to take the plunge myself. Nick Thompson 168.103.125.88 19:11, 11 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Lund?

Why is Lund being mentioned in the article? It has absolutely no relevance to pick just one Nordic city for no special reason.130.243.248.165 18:02, 13 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

It was used as an example in the NASA article. Pomte 12:24, 19 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

More Sources?

Are there any more sources? I'm begining to think that NASA coined this term themselves. "Solipsism Syndrome" has never been encountered in a single psychological or medical textbook. Feel free to prove me wrong. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 64.81.227.133 (talk) 05:20, 12 March 2007 (UTC).[reply]

pathology

Can anyone include some specific information about a crisis where one worries about solipsism. Isn't this a symptom of certain mental illnesses such as dissociative identity disorder, schizophrenia or obsessive compulsive disorder?

Disputed accuracy

As others have noted, this entire entry appears to have no basis in psychiatric practice, being based solely on a definition put forward by one unrelated US government agency (namely, NASA). It contains no references to the psychiatric literature, and PubMed contains not a single reference to "solipsism syndrome". As it stands it lacks any credentials for inclusion Robma (talk) 12:18, 22 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Is it necessary that the entry have a basis in psychiatric practice? 203.97.214.247 (talk) 01:22, 13 January 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Stuff happens whether we're here or not

By it's Merriam/Webster definition: Etymology: Latin solus alone + ipse self

a theory holding that the self can know nothing but its own modifications and that the self is the only existent thing -- I'm hard pressed to cite a more absurd description of reality or the human experience in defining it. When I close my eyes or go to sleep, the grass continues to grow in my yard. And when my father died, his old work truck continued to rust. Stuff happens whether we're here or not - aware of it or not. With an impressive array of 'enlightening' self-important philosophical dogmas the choose from, this has become my all-time favorite to avoid.