Q&A: A Bit Philosophical
Originally published:
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A Bit Philosophical
Question
What is the difference between
1. materialism and determinism?
2. solipsism and skepticism?
Answer
There is no connection.
- Materialism is the view that there is only matter in the world. Determinism is the view that everything is fixed in advance and there is no free choice. There is some connection between these views, because if you are a materialist then, at least in light of science, it is not reasonable to be a libertarian. But there is no conceptual connection between these two ideas.
- Solipsism is the view that there is no world apart from what is in my consciousness. Skepticism is the refusal to accept truth-claims as such. Sometimes solipsism is treated as a kind of skepticism, because it casts doubt on the existence of an external reality.
Discussion on Answer
1. Because the material body is governed by the laws of physics, and the laws of physics are deterministic (that is, without choice. There are also quantum phenomena, but that is randomness, not choice).
2. You know the world through your consciousness, but the solipsist claims that there is no world. There is only what is in consciousness.
Solipsism does not say that we do not exist, but that the world does not exist. If we do not exist, then our consciousness does not exist either.
1. Could you briefly explain to me why someone who is a materialist would likely also be a determinist, please?
2. I didn’t understand “apart from what is in my consciousness.” I always know the world through my consciousness. Besides that, you wrote (There Is No Person, p. 96) that solipsism is the view that the world and we do not exist, so that’s why I got confused between that and skepticism, which says that maybe we do not exist. How does that fit with what you wrote in the answer?