Other minds · Debate route
Does EE imply solipsism?
If experience is fundamental, are other people only in my mind?
← All routesThe claim at issue
What EE says
EE's starting point is that experience occurs, not that one persistent person owns all of it. Any other experiencing that exists belongs to experiential totality, whether or not it is directly available here.
EE's reply
Where the objection fails
The evidence for another mind arrives as speech, behavior, and other encountered patterns. EE does not claim those patterns prove another first-person occurrence. It also does not infer from that limit that no such occurrence exists. Its practical treatment of suffering reports follows from the cost of dismissing a real sufferer.
EE's answer
What follows
EE neither proves another person's private occurrence from this occurrence nor infers that no other occurrence exists. Any other experience that exists is part of experiential totality, not a thought owned by this observer. The same limit applies to proving one's own enduring identity across remembered time. Credible suffering reports warrant protection without a metaphysical certificate of their owner.