In this, I want to argue against the idea that people other than ourselves lack consciousness, although not simply the idea of them possessing a “separate” consciousness. Whether or not this agrees with or disagrees with solipsism is dependent on how you perceive it.

It is, by common sense, factual that consciousness exists. We know that consciousness exists. However, when we suggest that “we” know, we question who that “we” is. The pronoun “we” in the English language is highly subjective, and is dependent on context, but in every usage of the word there is the common subject of “I” and “oneself”, regardless of who else the pronoun entails. Although we know that consciousness exists, that “we” is indeterminate. This is, of course, a well-trodden idea in philosophy, and pairs particularly well with the concept of solipsism.

However, let me suggest a different perspective on the idea that only oneself is sure to have consciousness, and to express this I am going to use the experience that one has in a dream, as a microcosm.

In waking life, most people accept that others possess a consciousness both instinctively and because we are told as such. In a dream - assuming that it is not lucid - we transfer these principles into this alternative state of experience, and assume, in this dream, that the characters we encounter have consciousness. That is not incorrect.

In a lucid dream, we recognise that these characters are not “real”, as they are in reality, and therefore, because we are taught that they are not real, we also assume that they don’t have consciousness. This is incorrect.

If I were to tell a person that they do not have consciousness, they would not be able to give me evidence that they do, even though they can definitively prove that to themselves. Neither of us can prove, or have any way to know for certain, that the other has consciousness. The belief that others have consciousness, as we lack the evidence, is pure faith. One might also argue it is due to an evolutionary development of recognition of other consciousness existing, but it is not proof regardless. We believe.

In a lucid dream, our perspective of these dream characters is different from our perspective of people who are “real”, because we are taught that these people are not conscious, even if they act the same way that “real” people do. The fact is, however, that these people do have consciousness, but they do not have a separate consciousness. Their actions and decisions are consequences of our own consciousness.

So now we take this idea and assume the same for reality. Solipsism argues that one’s mind is the only one true to exist, and metaphysical solipsism involves the belief that other individuals are part of one’s own mind. Some people who value this belief might argue that the consequence of this is that other people besides ourselves do not possess a consciousness, but this is not true.

As I said before, the concept of a “we” includes only the definitive “I”, but that “I”, in terms of others’ consciousness, may actually exist as an inclusive pronoun: “we”. The argument that other people might not possess a consciousness does not coincide with the idea that other people are a creation of the consciousness.

If individual consciousness does not exist besides our own, that does not disprove the existence of others’ consciousness. In fact, it gives evidence to the opposite. The creation of other people by one’s own mind means that those people must, then, have a consciousness, that consciousness being your own. Likewise to the characters in dreams, if we assume other people are also creations of our mind, to say that they do not have consciousness is to deny the existence of one’s own consciousness, as the actions of those people are a direct result of your consciousness.

In summary, we know for a fact that consciousness exists. But regardless of whether or not there are consciousnesses individual from your own, and whether the “we” could or could not mean “I”, the notion that others might lack individual consciousness does not invalidate their possession of consciousness altogether. In such a case, that consciousness would simply be your own.

(If there are any inaccuracies, plagiarisms, or flaws in my logic, please point them out).