Solipsism in Schopenhauer and early Wittgenstein

Subject Areas : Epistemological researches

Mehran Sinaei moghadam ¹ , محمد رعایت جهرمی ²

1 - M.A. in philosophy, Imam khomeini International University
2 - دانشگاه بین المللی قزوین

Received: 2020-01-25 Accepted : 2020-04-02 Published : 2020-08-22

Keywords: Consciousness, solipsism,

Abstract :

Solipsism by which that means ‘I am the only conscious mind’, epistemologically and ontologically offers that ‘everything has to exist and has to be known through my consciousness.’ This view received philosophical attention after considering thinking subject in Descartes’ doctrine and also in investigating the mind of the knower in Barkley, Kant and following German idealists such as Fichte, Schelling, and Hegel. Therefore, Solipsism could be an important philosophical problem, since ‘I perceive the outer world and also the other minds’ through my conscious mind. Schopenhauer and Wittgenstein have considered this problem as ‘the border of the world for the knowing subject’ and signified it as ‘metaphysical I’. According to the Transcendental philosophy of Kant, Schopenhauer believes that the existence of the representative world depends on the mind of the knowing subject. However, the knower by itself is independent of time, space and causality. In a rare epistemological situation that Schopenhauer considers in aesthetical experience, the knower is in his true state. On the other hand, under the influence of Schopenhauer, Wittgenstein in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus introduces the role of the language in stating the border of the subject’s world; that is, the subjective experiences such as pain and emotion are perceived based on the knower’s mind. These subjective experiences also include the existence and mindfulness of others, too. Thus, the world is my world and as a conscious knower and as the conscious knower, I should exist in all the times to the end that the world exists.

References:

آنسکوم، جی. بی. اِم .(1385). مقدمه ای بر تراکتاتوس ویتگنشتاین، ترجمه همایون کاکاسلطانی، نشر گام نو.

دباغ، سروش.(1393). سکوت و معنا (جستارهایی در فلسفة ویتگنشتاین)، نشر صراط.

زندیه، عطیه .(1386). دین و باور دینی در اندیشه ویتگنشتاین، نشر نگاه معاصر.

سرل، جان.(۱۳۹۲). درآمدی کوتاه به ذهن، ترجمه محمد یوسفی، نشر نی.

شوپنهاور، آرتور .(1396). جهان همچون اراده و تصور، ترجمه رضا ولی یاری، نشر مرکز.

همو .(1394) . متعلقات و ملحقات، ترجمه رضا ولی یاری، نشر مرکز.

فسنکول، ویلهلم .(1385). گفتنی ها- ناگفتنی‌ها(سه مقاله درباره فلسفه ویتگنشتاین)، ترجمه مالک حسینی، نشر هرمس.

کانت، ایمانویل .(1362). سنجش خرد ناب، ترجمه‌ی دکتر میرشمس‌الدین ادیب‌سلطانی، امیرکبیر.

گلاک، هانس یوهان .(1389). فرهنگ اصطلاحات ویتگنشتاین، ترجمه همایون کاکاسلطانی، نشر گام نو.

ویتگنشتاین، لودویگ .(1386). رساله‌ی منطقی-فلسفی، ترجمه میرشمس الدین ادیب سلطانی، نشر امیرکبیر.

 

Biletzki, Anat. (2003). Interpreting Wittgenstein, Kluwer

Friedlander, Eli. (2001). Signs of Sense: reading Wittgenstein’s Tractatus, Harvard University press

Hacker, P.M.S. (1990). Wittgenstein Meaning and Mind, Basil Blackwell

Lange, Ernst Michael. (2017). Wittgenstein on Solipsism, in:A companion to Wittgenstein, edited by Hans-Johann Glock, and John Hyman, Blackwell

Pihlström, Sami. (2011)Transcendental Guilt Reflections on Ethical Finitude, Lexington Books

Pradhan, Ramesh Chandra. (2019). Mind Meaning and World, Springer

Sluga, Hans and Stern, G. (1996). The Cambridge Companion to Wittgenstein, Cambridge

Wittgenstein, Ludwig. (1961). Notebooks, editors: G.H. Wright and G.B.M. Anscombe, Translated by G.B.M. Anscombe