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Derived from the [[Latin ]] [[words ]] ''solus'' ('only') and ''ipse'' ('[[self]]'), the term is sometimes used as a synonym for 'selfishness' or 'egotism'.

In [[philosophy ]] it is used more strictly to describe the [[thesis ]] that only the self [[exists]].

All philosophies that, like the [[Cartesian ]] ''[[cogito]]'' ('I am [[thinking]], therefore I am')<ref>1637</ref>, take as their starting-point the immediate [[experience ]] of an [[individual ]] [[consciousness]] tends to lapse into [[solipsism]] as they have difficulty in establishing the [[existence ]] of [[other ]] [[consciousness]]es.