You do not exist! SelfIllusion.com
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Shameless self promotion, I've just started a new blog / website:
It is to do with psychology and philosophy related stuff.
Have a gander.
Bit of a double whammy really. To begin with, everything I 'know' about the world is basically inside my head. I perceive the existence of others and assume they have broadly similar thoughts and emotions to my own. But without the memories in my head, there'd effectively be nothing.Sci-fi author Robert Heinlein used to write about what he called 'multi-person solipsism'. It went something like this – the world came into existence when I became aware of it, and will end when I die. But it's the same for everybody else, so the world goes on.But now I'm told even my consciousness of the world is an illusion. You couldn't make it up!
Note "illusion" does not mean "not real" but "not as it appears".But I don't want to give the game away too early, you'll have to keep reading the blog
rodshaw wrote:Sci-fi author Robert Heinlein used to write about what he called 'multi-person solipsism'. It went something like this – the world came into existence when I became aware of it, and will end when I die. But it's the same for everybody else, so the world goes on.But now I'm told even my consciousness of the world is an illusion. You couldn't make it up!I believe Berkley was an early advocate of such a philosophyAccording to Berkeley, the physical world exists only while it is being perceived. If it isn’t observed, it isn’t there.In an attempt to escape this absurdity he claimed that as God sees everything and at all times, so the world continues to exist even when we close our eyes. A critic wrote of Berkley’s philosophy: There was a young man who said, ‘GodMust think it exceedingly oddIf he finds that this treeContinues to beWhen there’s no one about in the Quad.’ And Berkley Replied Dear Sir:Your astonishment’s odd:I am always about in the Quad.And that’s why the treeWill continue to be,Since observed byYours faithfully,GOD.
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