- published: 11 Dec 2015
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Solipsism (i/ˈsɒlᵻpsɪzəm/; from Latin solus, meaning "alone", and ipse, meaning "self") is the philosophical idea that only one's own mind is sure to exist. As an epistemological position, solipsism holds that knowledge of anything outside one's own mind is unsure; the external world and other minds cannot be known and might not exist outside of the mind. As a metaphysical position, solipsism goes further to the conclusion that the world and other minds do not exist.
There are varying degrees of solipsism that parallel the varying degrees of serious skepticism.
Metaphysical solipsism is the "strongest" variety of solipsism. Based on a philosophy of subjective idealism, metaphysical solipsists maintain that the self is the only existing reality and that all other reality, including the external world and other persons, are representations of that self, and have no independent existence. There are weaker versions of metaphysical solipsism, such as Caspar Hare's egocentric presentism (or perspectival realism), in which other people are conscious but their experiences are simply not present.
Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was an English American author, essayist, orator, religious and literary critic, and journalist. Hitchens later spent much of his career in the United States and became a US citizen in 2007.
He contributed to New Statesman, The Nation, The Atlantic, London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, Slate, and Vanity Fair. Hitchens was the author, co-author, editor or co-editor of over 30 books, including five collections of essays, on a range of subjects, including politics, literature, and religion. A staple of talk shows and lecture circuits, his confrontational style of debate made him both a lauded and controversial figure. Known for his contrarian stance on a number of issues, Hitchens criticized such public and generally popular figures as Mother Teresa; Bill Clinton; Henry Kissinger; Princess Diana; and Pope Benedict XVI. He was the elder brother of the conservative journalist and author Peter Hitchens.
You are patient now with our unspoken agreements
and my inability to hold on to anything
I’m breaking our bonds, temptations beyond sentiment
absorbing everything while we consistently flow inconsistent and out of reach.
At night you sit and talk to God, did he ever respond?
You've got a million dollar frame with nothing to display
I really hope he'd understand or know the struggles of a man
It's in my blood it wasn't planned
I realize that sex is not synonymous with love
but in retrospect it's the only proof that i’m not numb
At night you sit and talk to God, did he ever respond?
You've got a million dollar frame with nothing to display
I really hope he'd understand or know the struggles of a man