George Levy wrote: > The scientist could prove that he is not alone by invoking the principle > of sufficient reason: nothing is arbitrary and exist with no reason. If > something exists in a particular arbitrary way (himself) with no reason > for him to be in that particular way, then all other alternatives of him > must also exist (the Plenitude). Hence he is not alone. Solipsism is dead.
This used to be an argument against the principle of sufficent reason. 1) If there is a sufficient reason for everyting, everything should exist at once. 2) Everything doesn't exist at once. 3) Therefore there is not a sufficient reason for eveything. But in fact Sufficient Reason is overkill to refute solipsism. The solipsist cannot find any reason for his future expereince, let alone a sufficient reason. Casuality. as Hume reminds us. is not visible as such, and the Solipsist believes in only what he sees, so the solipsist cannot believe in reasons or causes. Solipsism is only irrefutable inasmuch as the solipsist claims that an external world cannot be proved with *certainty*. But science has always been more concerned with explanation than certainty, so it has never been solipsistic. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
