I have not posted to the main threads for several reasons, mainly to make it clear that premises I present are based on what I call Triadic Philosophy which is my extension of what I take from Peirce into streams of thinking that I have developed over time.
But I find myself wanting to affirm the point of view that solipsism is what I take Edwina to be saying it is -- namely the notion that the self is the beginning and ending of perception. It is where such reality as we are aware of resides. If I have her wrong, apologies. I am a realist who affirms a reality well past the porous thing we call the self. In fact I affirm it way past what we know or see. We will know more and more perhaps. But mystery is manifest. As to whether experiment trumps solipsism, I find that impossible. Since the premise of solipsism is false and because much of the experimentation needed for the sake of progress has to do with the behavior of selves (individuals) who exist within reality. Such experimentation is generally done within the purview of the social sciences, the sort of issues that concerned Peirce's student Veblen. If these issues cannot be given the degree of experimental certainty that say the next lipitor will receive, then surely the notion that experiment can trump solipsism, is a prodigious stretch.
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