Solipsism is the philosophical idea that only one's mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure.
Nope. I believe other minds exist. I believe an external reality subject to the laws of physics and chemistry exists. I believe the many parts of planet Earth I've never visited exist despite my ignorance.
I believe other planets orbit our sun, and still other planets orbit other suns. I believe our galaxy has about 10^11 stars, most of which are orbited by multiple planets. I believe the universe contains about 10^12 galaxies. And I would be shocked if intelligent life hadn't evolved independently on many planets in each galaxy.
I'm not even sure that the mind is all that rock solid as a concept of baseline knowledge and/or reality either.
We are prone to visual and auditory hallucinations. We live slightly behind reality as it takes time to process the world around us. Our memories change constantly, adding or deleting details with each 'rememberance'. We can have rock solid belief in things for which there are no proof and casually disregard facts when they are presented to us. We can be hypnotised, brainwashed, and subliminally tricked. Our entire personality can be altered by either illness or minor changes in the brain chemistry. Not forgetting also the concepts of deja vu and the Mandela Effect.
So while the mind may exist it's not a particularly good tool for examining either itself of knowledge of anything outside of itself, but, it's all we have to work with 🤷🏼♂️
To some extent. I don't actually see the world, just light projected into my eyes. I don't hear the world, just vibrations in my head. The nerve endings in my skin could be lying about what I feel.
Then I realize it doesn't matter, because either way, this world interacts with me in a way that the real world would.
