Reality and what is real are defined by the ability of elements and their structures to interact with each other and being registered by our observations.
There is nothing we can say, hypothesize or theorize beyond that "ability" of "real things". — Nickolasgaspar
A brain state is real and can be observed... So the mental experience of an apple is real, but a physical apple doesn't exist in there. — Nickolasgaspar
Discussion of anything presupposes its being real or possibly real enough to discuss. — Mww
If reality only makes sense in relation to human sensations, then why wouldn't you be concerned with the sensations themselves, hearing, feeling, tasting, and smelling? — Metaphysician Undercover
If the sensations are what are real, then we have two conditions, that which is sensing, and that which is sensed. — Metaphysician Undercover
If we start from human sensations, shouldn't that which is sensing be just as real as the thing sensed? — Metaphysician Undercover
The idea of “real” or “reality” comes up frequently on the forum, often in relation to quantum mechanics. It has struck me the concept is not usually defined explicitly or carefully. — T Clark
Let us imagine all beings, things and persons , reverting to nothingness.
One cannot put this return to nothingness outside of all events. But what of
this nothingness itself? Something would happen, if only night and the
silence of nothingness. The indeterminateness of this 'something is happening'
is not the indeterminateness of a subject and does not refer to a
substantive . Like the third person pronoun in the impersonal form of a
verb , it designates not the uncertainly known author of the action, but the
characteristic of this action itself which somehow has no author . This
impersonal, anonymous, yet inextinguishable 'consummation' of being,
which murmurs in the depths of nothingness itself we shall designate by the
term there is. The there is, inasmuch as it resists a personal form, is 'being in
general' — Levinas
Reality is that which corresponds to a sensation in general; and that, consequently, the conception of which indicates a real being in time, that is to say, a representation of that sensation, and the sense it makes is proportional to the manifold of representations contained in the conception, and the relation of them to the sensation, and to each other. — Mww
Because I say so, yes, and it is knowledge a priori that I say so, but knowledge of reality, by means of sensation, is of empirical objects, so not a priori knowledge. — Mww
I’ll define “reality” as the state of being real.
— T Clark
Agreed, in principle, the caveat being the state of being real does not necessarily imply reality. Non-reciprocity kinda thing, doncha know. — Mww
"Real", as is used in English is an honorific word, adding little substance to what is being discussed. — Manuel
Are unicorns real? Well, they're not objects in the world, but people can surely speak about them without much problem, within an appropriate context (mythology, storytelling, etc.) — Manuel
If I understand correctly, the difference is that fiction is open for examination by everyone while delusions are purely personal. I'm not sure I buy that distinction. — T Clark
I used to think of reality as having a relationship to existence as having a relationship to being, where "the real" refers to lived experience, existence refers to judgments of statements, and being does not refer but is the most fundamental -- one might be tempted to say there's a Hegelian relationship between being and the other two. Something rougly along those lines. — Moliere
To stretch my mind a bit -- I might say reality is related to the self in the selfs projects or pictures, or more fundamentally, in the selfs enjoyment of grasping the world for itself. — Moliere
The words on the page of the Tao Te Ching or the Bible are open to interpretation as literature. We can read and share what the words or The Word mean to us if anything.
Hallucination: a sensory perception not accessible or real to those other than the sufferer.
Delusion: a fixed, false conviction in something that is not real or shared by other people...
It's important to recognise the distinction between different kinds of reality and their consequences. — Amity
Aren't delusions unreal by definition?
— frank
That's one of the questions on the table. — T Clark
I don't understand this — T Clark
Since science is epistemic, not ontic, I don't see what "QM" has to do with "reality" as such (i.e. map (QM) =/= terrain (reality); therefore, interpreting one in terms of the other seems to me a category error), and puzzles me why (the Mods allow) so much pseudo-quantum graffiti to deface these fora.The idea of “real” or “reality” comes up frequently on the forum, often in relation to quantum mechanics. — T Clark
Reality is that aspect of being we notice. — Moliere
Being is that which has no distinction. If it were distinct then it'd be individuated then it wouldn't apply to some existence. — Moliere
And, more generally, we are free to set out what we mean by reality. It changes depending upon the philosopher. — Moliere
Since science is epistemic, not ontic, I don't see what "QM" has to do with "reality" as such (i.e. map (QM) =/= territorry (reality); therefore, interpreting one in terms of the other seems to me a category error), and puzzles me why (the Mods allow) so much pseudo-quantum graffiti to deface these fora. — 180 Proof
.One of the reasons I came up with the criteria for reality I did was that in several discussions posters claimed that quantum behavior at atomic and subatomic scale called into question the reality of phenomena at human scale. I reject that idea — T Clark
Funny - "that which has no distinction" is what Lao Tzu would probably call "non-being." — T Clark
Or maybe it is the aspect of being we can notice, even if we don't right now. — T Clark
Agreed. I guess that's the point of this discussion - if you're going to use the words, make sure you let us all know what you mean. — T Clark
Discussion of anything presupposes its being real or possibly real enough to discuss.
— Mww
Except when that's clearly false?..... — Srap Tasmaner
You and I, discussing whether the Bermuda Triangle is a thing, with a mysterious ship- and plane-eating property, cannot be assuming that it is real: that is the question we are addressing. — Srap Tasmaner
The set of things to be explained exists but is empty. — Srap Tasmaner
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