Today’s Words That Work: Solipsism

Solipsism  (SOL-ip-siz-um) — from the Latin for “alone” + “self” — is an extreme form of skepticism. Based on the philosophical theory that only the self exists or can be proven to exist, it is an extreme preoccupation with and indulgence of one’s own feelings and desires.

Example (as used by Alexander Nazaryan in a New York Times review of Hate: A Romance by Tristan Gardia): “Garcia, a trained philosopher, has managed to write — in fewer than 300 pages, no less — the kind of social novel his American counterparts too often avoid in favor of solipsistic musings.”