solipsism

familiar word / vague meaning

Definition of solipsism:
n. Philosophy.

1. “The theory that the self is the only thing that can be known and verified.”
2. “The theory or view that the self is the only reality.” (answers.com)

[Latin sōlus, alone + Latin ipse, self + –ISM.]

Where I ran across it:
2/14/08 NYT online article, “Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?” by Patricia Cohen.

“...Then there is Lee Siegel’s “Against the Machine: Being Human in the Age of the Electronic Mob,” which inveighs against the Internet for encouraging solipsism, debased discourse and arrant commercialization. ...”

My two cents:
Why didn’t I take Latin in school?! The more I chronicle my way through this word list, the more I wish I had. I’ve sung my share of Latin texts over the years which grant me some insight, but it still would have been helpful to have taken a class like my husband took in college. Thirty-six years later, he still calls upon the knowledge he gained from that one elective course covering the Latin origins of English words. (Again, chalk it up to finishing school and later, art college vs. a large state university. But I can paint and sing!). Do they even offer these classes anymore? If I can find one, maybe I’ll go enroll in it. Now that’s a plan.

In the meantime, Patricia Cohen’s article is a must-read, and for me, so will be the newly released book she reviews, “The Age of American Unreason” by Susan Jacoby. Jacoby’s book isn’t just a re-hash of the perennial “smart nerds vs. dumb jocks” scenario that has been a part of our culture for ever. Nothing new in that. But apparently, she bristles at a depressing new trend, one that echoes what I observed myself recently as a non-traditional (read: old) college student. Here’s the new bad news: “Not only are citizens ignorant about essential scientific, civic and cultural knowledge [Jacoby says] but they also don’t think it matters.” Right on, sister, this is scary true. Witness: the kid sitting next to me in my Psych class in art school who proclaimed loudly after he had slept through lectures and neither studied for tests, nor did any of the reading, nor turned in any of his assignments, “Anybody who does well in this class just isn’t committed to their major!” I give the kid props for wanting to be a really swell artist, but he totally missed the concept of embracing a well-rounded education that just might inform him and inspire his art. I remember thinking at the time, “Wow, I sure hope you grow up and figure it out someday. And if not, I hope you never vote.”