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Solipsistic approach

שו”תCategory: faithSolipsistic approach
asked 8 years ago

Hello Rabbi,
I read a book that claims that the solipsistic approach is the only certain approach.
I wanted to ask the rabbi if there really is no “proof” that a world exists outside of thought? This is a shocking realization, isn’t it?
Moreover, it is not beyond doubt that we see and recognize ourselves that sometimes we imagine things, from dreams to real creatures like Pegasus, for example, etc. So who said that we don’t imagine the world? What exactly is the difference between the two?
 
And is it appropriate for someone who accepts the existence of the external world (why?) to also accept a concept that is much less perceived as God (the anthropological view).
 
Zaa,
A. Why should we assume that a world external to us exists, when we have no proof of it, and moreover, we recognize the ability of the imagination to simulate the world and deceive us?
B. How does our soul make the distinction between what occurs in reality and what comes from the imagination? Or how do we make this distinction?
C. Is he who accepts the world worthy of accepting God? (The anthropological evidence).
Thanks in advance!@
PS It’s quite “crazy” for me to realize that there is no proof in the world around us. Maybe the Rabbi knows of one.
D. Did the rabbi write an article/book related to the matter?
 


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 8 years ago
I didn’t write and there’s no point in writing. It’s possible that it’s all our delusions and it’s possible that it’s not. It’s impossible to prove this or that, and it’s left to each of us’s intuition. You understand that even if I write an argument against solipsism, it will be based on assumptions that you could never even doubt (after all, you’re basically talking to yourself right now. I don’t really exist. If I write an argument for you, that would also be imaginary). So I’ll have to bring arguments in their favor too? There’s no end to it. I see no reason to be bothered by this. At most it’s true, so what? Beyond that, I personally trust my intuitions and whoever wants to draw conclusions from them has to prove it. How do you know that your consciousness deceives you sometimes? After all, you derive that too from consciousness. If everything is imagination, then even the fact that you have imaginations is imagination. These are nonsenses that I see no point in dwelling on. It is clear that we have illusions from time to time, but that does not mean that everything is an illusion. On the contrary, the fact that I recognize that it is an illusion proves that the other times I recognized that it is not an illusion (that is what I wrote in the previous paragraph). When I have a pete morgana, it does not make me abandon trust in my own eyes. The question about God is irrelevant. You can be a solipsist and believe in Him or be a realist and not believe in Him.    

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מתתיהו replied 8 years ago

Thanks Rabbi,
Indeed, what I thought was determined only by each and every one's intuition.

A] I would be happy if the Rabbi would write arguments on the matter (even at the beginning of chapters) although they can always be refuted. Because most of the arguments I have seen on the Internet are quite weak.

B] Regarding the part that does not concern God. Solipsism is usually presented as a ‘theological view’ of God in the context of the anthropological view.
Whoever recognizes the existence of external things outside of the ’I’ must see the existence of God as something that is more certain than all other things.
Z”A The argument in favor of the existence of external things to his knowledge must be of the form: I have a feeling/intuition of a table and a chair, and this thought is not the fruit of my imagination or dream.

So what is true about the table and the chair is that it is true about the concept of God.
Because it is an infinite object and is much more difficult to “create” than any other thought.

(Or that this is brought as evidence for the reality of the Creator through naive faith, just as the understanding that this world is only in my mind – is too narrow an understanding, so is the understanding that this world is random … is too narrow an understanding, even though both are true)

C] I understood that you have a book that deals with intuition and its importance, right? That is, without the ‘natural’commensation; philosophy is liable to mislead us in a big way (the solipsistic approach is the doge’).

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

I have already written that I have nothing to write about this. And anyone who writes something about this is presumed to be writing nonsense. The basic argument is that maybe everything is an illusion (because we have illusions) and the counterargument is that not everything is an illusion (intuition). That's all.
The proof for the existence or non-existence of God is baseless. There are people who have an intuition that the chair exists and have no intuition about God, or that it is stronger than that, and so on. All of these are just empty words.
I have written books about intuition (mainly Two Carts and Truth and Unstable). You will not find arguments there against solipsism (because it is not necessary and impossible).

מתתיהו replied 8 years ago

Even those who have no intuition about God know what they are talking about…
After all, a debate between an atheist and a believer is not a mere argument.
Rather, one claims that a defined entity exists and the other disbelieves in it.

And so they defined the concept of God anyway. And it is such a big concept that it has to come to them from the outside, right?

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

Mattathias, you're mixing things up here. Now you've brought in the anthropological evidence. There's more evidence for the existence of God. But what does all this have to do with solipsism?

מתתיהו replied 8 years ago

That the moment a person accepts his external world, then he deserves to accept God. That his understanding is much more complex than anything his mind can produce and deceive his soul.

And the connection is found in the response you wrote:
“The proof of the existence or non-existence of God is baseless. Some people have an intuition that the chair exists and have no intuition about God, or that it is stronger than that, and so on. All of these are just empty lies.”

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

A person who denies the existence of God understands what he is talking about (for example: There is a great one who created the world). But this does not mean that he has an intuition that such a thing exists, and it does not necessarily have to come to him from some external source. The believer claims that such a thing exists and the atheist disagrees. It is possible to deny the existence of demons and monsters when one understands what is being discussed and does not conclude that they exist.
See the first volume for a discussion of the ontological view.

מתתיהו replied 8 years ago

Because for them we have a way to explain their creation – the mind is a combination of the two.
But we don't always claim this, of course, regarding the concept of God.

PS Does the Rabbi believe in the existence of ideas as real beings?

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

I don't understand. Are you talking about demons? How was this concept created if not by external influence? A synthesis of other concepts? So the concept of God can also be created this way. What's the problem with creating the concept "There is an omnipotent being who created the world". And that our brain can't synthesize such a concept? I don't see this as a real problem.

I tend to think so, but I'm not sure.

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