History UsefulNotes / Solipsism

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': The dictator Adam Susan undergoes a SanitySlippage that results in him coming to believe that that the only two entities that actually exists is himself and the FATE supercomputer which he uses to run his fascist society. His illusion is shattered when he discovers that V has been hacking into FATE for a long time, which causes him to undergo another Sanity Slippage.
* ''ComicBook/XMen'': The villain Cassandra Nova, the literal EvilTwin of Charles Xavier who fought him in the womb to be born and lost. Because he was such a powerful mutant, Nova was able to survive, and spent the next forty years as protoplasm on the wall of a sewer building herself a body. Because of this isolation (and her general insanity) Nova is convinced that she and Charles are the only beings in creation that actually exist, and that everything and everyone else are just creations of either him or her. And because her brother champions and protects {{Mutants}}, she decides to become an OmnicidalManiac and kill off as many of them as she can just to spite him.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* In ''Fanfic/TheElementsOfFriendship'', [[spoiler:Trixie degenerates from ItsAllAboutMe to this, thanks to [[ArtifactOfDoom the Alicorn Amulet]] warping her mind.]]

* In the French movie ''Seuls'', when the main character Leïla discover that the reason she is all alone with four other kids in a deserted Paris [[spoiler:is that she has been killed the same night as they were, which leads her to believe for a moment that she imagined all of her journey and that she is the only "real" one as she thinks she can't trust her mind anymore.]]
* In Creator/JohnCarpenter's ''Film/DarkStar'', one of the protagonists' planet destroying bombs [[AIIsACrapshoot becomes self-aware and refused to abort a detonation order given in error]]. Doolittle tries to convince the bomb not to explode, by explaining the concepts of solipsism to it, telling that its order to detonate might just be an illusion, and it the only thing it can be certain of is that its own mind exists. It works... [[HopeSpot briefly]]. The bomb, now convinced that its the only thing in existence, reasons that it must mean [[AGodAmI that it itself is, in fact, God]], and it goes on to [[AsTheGoodBookSays quote the first lines of Genesis]], before detonating any way.

* The Party of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' drives metaphysical solipsism to a particularly terrifying logical conclusion. O'Brien boasts that since nothing exists outside the consciousness, and the Party controls all information everywhere, the Party is like a collective RealityWarper that can distort and rewrite the past and even ''material reality itself''. Reality simply ''does not exist'' any more, the closest approximation is whatever the Party says is reality. And if you do not agree to their absurdity, they will use TwoPlusTortureMakesFive and MindRape until you believe it. Why, you ask? [[ForTheEvulz Because the Party wants nothing but power, and there is no greater power than inflicting misery and humiliation on other human beings]].
* Claire Stanfield of ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' is a solipsist who claims that he can't die because everything is just a figment of his imagination and he can't imagine himself dying. Given that he's both a friendly, likable, occasionally heroic guy and a brutal hitman who's tortured people and caused truly spectacular amounts of carnage, he's probably a prime example of the abovementioned effects that such a belief can have on your morality. He does have emotional attachments to other people but these seem to be somewhat akin to the attachments that people have to fictional characters, albeit somewhat stronger. [[spoiler: The ''only'' other person he believes to be real is his love interest and later wife, Chané Laforet -- because she actually (albeit unintentionally) managed to wound him, 'proving' her existence.]]
* The "point-being" of ''Literature/{{Flatland}}'' is convinced that it is the only mind, spending its time singing its own praises - to itself - and assumes that the conversation between temporary visitors A. Sphere and A. Square are more of its own thoughts. Oddly, "A. Point" is correct - its universe has no "room" for other beings (or, indeed, any''thing'') besides itself.
* There's a Creator/RayBradbury short story, ''No Particular Night or Morning'', built around this concept. Joseph Hitchcock, an astronaut on a deep space mission becomes convinced that his past life on Earth was merely a dream or fantasy, including his past experiences with his wife and son. He takes it to the illogical conclusion, [[NoObjectPermanence refusing to believe that anything not right in front of him exists]], including moments, objects, persons and even his younger self. Despite Clemens, a friend, trying to keep him grounded, he ultimately GoesMadFromTheRevelation [[spoiler: and leaves the ship in a spacesuit, now wandering in space until his inevitable death]].
* Richard Ames, the main character of ''Literature/TheCatWhoWalksThroughWalls'' decides one morning to follow solipsism, and refers to other people (including his wife) as a figment of his imagination. Not a wholly straight example, as he's just doing it [[ItAmusedMe for his own amusement]].

-->'''Satan''': Life itself is only a vision; A dream. Nothing exists, but an empty space and you. And you are but a thought.
* Philosopher Creator/BertrandRussell once made the following quip regarding solipsism:
-->"As against solipsism it is to be said, in the first place, that it is psychologically impossible to believe, and is rejected in fact even by those who mean to accept it. I once received a letter from an eminent logician, Mrs. Christine Ladd-Franklin, saying that she was a solipsist, and was surprised that there were no others. Coming from a logician and a solipsist, her surprise surprised me."

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In the episode "Earshot", after Buffy gets the ability to read minds, Oz theorizes that his ability to think no longer proves his own existence - it only proves ''Buffy's'' existence.

* In ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' Season 4, Episode 2 "A Girl from Arizona (Part 2)", Simone becomes convinced that the afterlife and everyone in it are simply in her imagination. Eleanor ends up having to get Chidi's help to talk to Simone, and he comes to the conclusion that, although it is impossible to disprove what Simone is saying, he is able to convince her that she would have nothing to loose by treating others kindly in case she is wrong and they are real.

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

* Aten in ''TabletopGame/{{Scion}}'' is thoroughly convinced that nothing else in reality exists but as a fragment of his consciousness. As he's the avatar of a Greater Titan, this means he is effectively indestructible unless convinced he's ''not''. This extends to his goals -- he wants everything that exists to worship him, and if that fails, he's willing to have his followers blow themselves up. He's also UsefulNotes/{{Akhenaten}}'s only avatar, which helps to reinforce this view -- he absorbed all of the others.

* A racial class in the ''TabletopGame/{{Rifts}}'' {{Sourcebook}} ''D-Bees of North America'' has metaphysical solipsism as their [[GangOfHats hat]]. This is presented more of a Role-Playing quirk than anything else, as their philosophy does not turn them into amoral monsters.

* The Drell race in the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series have perfect memories, reliving them so clearly they can even remember if an insect landed on a stranger's shoulder. According to Thane, depressed Drell can completely shut themselves out from the real world and "live" in their memories, which he comments is a perverse sort of solipsism -- they believe their past is more real than the present, so for them it ''is'' real.
* The Solipsist class in ''VideoGame/TalesOfMajEyal'' is {{Exactly What It Says On The Tin}}, with abilities involving, among other things, creating matter from thoughts, distorting reality and disbelieving damage.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] briefly brings it up in his review of ''ComicBook/ZeroHourCrisisInTime'', though more in the way it proves ones own existence, rather than how it fails to prove anyone else's. The context is a time-aberrant version of Batgirl, who should not exist and will cease to exist should the heroes succeed, but is still very much alive and aware.
-->'''Linkara''': Indulge me a moment, my friends. The philosopher Rene Descartes attempted to discern truths about existence by shedding away all that he knew and, using only his mind, reason out truth. The first truth that he discerned was Cogito Ergo Sum. I think, therefore I am. The reasoning went that thought cannot exist independently of some form of self, so even if all of existence is an illusion, a trick played on a person by a demon, there is still a ''something'' that is being tricked. I ''think'', therefore ''I am''.

* In ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'', the dictator Adam Susan undergoes a SanitySlippage that results in him coming to believe that that the only two entities that actually exists is himself and the FATE supercomputer which he uses to run his fascist society. His illusion is shattered when he discovers that V has been hacking into FATE for a long time, which causes him to undergo another Sanity Slippage.
* Interestingly similar to the above Adam Susan in her delusion that only two entities exist is the ''Franchise/XMen'' villain Cassandra Nova, the literal EvilTwin of Charles Xavier who fought him in the womb to be born and lost. Because he was such a powerful mutant, Nova was able to survive, and spent the next forty years as protoplasm on the wall of a sewer building herself a body. Because of this isolation (and her general insanity) Nova is convinced that she and Charles are the only beings in creation that actually exist, and that everything and everyone else are just creations of either him or her. And because her brother champions and protects {{Mutants}}, she decides to become an OmnicidalManiac and kill off as many of them as she can just to spite him.

!!!Epistomological Solipsism

The end result is '''Epistomological Solipsism''': the belief that the only thing whose existence you can be ''certain'' of is your own mind, and mostly because you are thinking with it. The rest of the world ''may'' exist, but it might not, and even if it did you couldn't prove it. Descending from this is the idea of '''Methodological Solipsism''', the idea that, ''because'' you can only be certain of your own mind, that frame of reference needs to be the basis of all other conclusions.

* Ricky Gervais would often discuss Descartes with Karl Pilkington and Stephen Merchant on ''WesternAnimation/TheRickyGervaisShow''.

You, reading this: think, right now. No, just think. By thinking, you have confirmed Rene Descartes' immortal postulate -- "I think, therefore I am" -- and proved that you exist. Now, can you prove that anything else around you exists?

* In ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' Season 4, Episode 2 “A Girl from Arizona (Part 2)”, Simone becomes convinced that the afterlife and everyone in it are simply in her imagination. Eleanor ends up having to get Chidi's help to talk to Simone, and he comes to the conclusion that, although it is impossible to disprove what Simone is saying, he is able to convince her that it would cause no harm and she would have nothing to loose by treating others kindly in case she is wrong and they are real.