P H I L O S O P H Y P A T H W A Y S ISSN 2043-0728 http://philosophypathways.com/newsletter/ Issue No. 218 12th December 2017 CONTENTS Edited by D. R. Khashaba I. 'Solipsism' by F.H. Bradley II. Wittgenstein on Solipsism III. 'Solipsism a Pseudo-Problem' by D. R. Khashaba From the List Manager IV. 'Call for submissions: Blogs by members of Pathways and the ISFP' by Geoffrey Klempner -=- EDITOR'S NOTE For this issue of Philosophy Pathways I thought of displaying various approaches to the problem or, in my view, pseudo-problem of solipsism. (I) In the first part I reproduce F. H. Bradley's classic exposition in Ch. XXI of Appearance and Reality. (II) In the second part I collect relevant passages from Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philophilosophicus. (III) In the third part I comment briefly on Bradley's text and more amply on Wittgenstein's. I had half a heart to append extracts from a paper, "Subjectivism and Solipsism", which first appeared in Philosophy Pathways Issue No. 37, 28 July 2002, but I found the issue is already long enough as it stands. (c) D. R. Khashaba 2017 About the editor: http://philosophypathways.com/newsletter/editor.html#khashaba Site: https://philosophia937.wordpress.com Blog: http://khashaba.blogspot.com Email: dkhashaba@yahoo.com -=- I. 'SOLIPSISM' BY F.H. BRADLEY Have we any reason to believe in the existence of anything beyond our private selves? Have we the smallest right to such a belief, and is it more than literally a self-delusion? We, I think, may fairly say that some metaphysicians have shown unwillingness to look this problem in the face. And yet it cannot be avoided. Since we all believe in a world beyond us, and are not prepared to give this up, it would be a scandal if that were something which upon our theory was illusive [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/F.H.Bradley_Solipsism_ (Appearance_and_Reality).pdf Public domain -=- II. WITTGENSTEIN ON SOLIPSISM Wittgenstein has not written a separate work or paper on the subject of solipsism, but in the Tractatus there are numerous relevant statements and remarks. Here I collect the most salient of these (in Ogden's translation) without comment [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/L.Wittgenstein_Solipsism_ (Tractatus_Logico-Philosophicus).pdf Public domain -=- III. 'SOLIPSISM A SELF-DELUSION' BY D. R. KHASHABA First we have to be clear as to what we mean by solipsism. I distinguish three different senses of the term. (1) Only in a mental asylum can we meet with a person who believes that she or he is the only real thing in existence and that all the 'persons' and all the happenings she or he encounters in their waking hours are figments of their imagination and have no more substantiality than the similar images they see in their dreams [...] Read more... http://philosophypathways.com/articles/D.R.Khashaba_Solipsism_a_ Pseudo-Problem.pdf (c) D. R. Khashaba 2017 About the editor: http://philosophypathways.com/newsletter/editor.html#khashaba Site: https://philosophia937.wordpress.com Blog: http://khashaba.blogspot.com Email: dkhashaba@yahoo.com -=- IV. 'CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS: BLOGS BY MEMBERS OF PATHWAYS AND THE ISFP' BY GEOFFREY KLEMPNER In the next issue 219 of Philosophy Pathways, due to go out in January, we will be including a short feature about blogs by members of Pathways and the International Society of Philosophers. To date, all the blogs I have been told about -- or in one or two cases found by lucky accident -- are listed on my Tentative Answers page at https://tentativeanswers.blogspot.com under 'Friendly Plugs'. Currently, there are a mixture of links here, but if enough bloggers come forward I will make a separate list. If you don't see your blog here, please let me know and I will add your blog to the list. It would also be good to have your comments on what your blog is about, what you are hoping to achieve, etc. I look forward to hearing from you! (c) Geoffrey Klempner 2017 Email: klempner@fastmail.net -=- Philosophy Pathways is the electronic newsletter for the Pathways to Philosophy distance learning program To subscribe or cancel your subscription please email your request to philosophypathways@fastmail.net or go online at https://lists.shef.ac.uk/sympa/info/philosophypathways Please send contributions, suggestions or comments to the List Manager Geoffrey Klempner klempner@fastmail.net The views expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect those of the Editors.