Christelle asked:

What is Reality?

============

There is a trite but obviously not satisfactory answer to this question. Reality is what you make it !
Over the years from before the early Greeks to the present day reality has been defined in many
ways. There are those who are convinced that reality refers to tangible things existing in a material
world; reality to them is solid , consisting of objects that have shape, weight and measurable
dimensions. Those who disagree with this concept claim that no proof can be provided to establish
beyond doubt that external objects exist, they claim that reality is based upon the perceptions given to
us by our senses, i.e. sensa or sense data. These sensa, though considered by some untrustworthy,
are, unfortunately, the only form of reality we have available to us.

Some claim that to say sense data represent objects in an external world is, to say the least,
presumptuous. The theory is that we cannot know anything outside the restriction of the five senses,
and to pretend that we can is silly. The only way we can investigate our senses is by using our
senses to carry out the investigation, hence, we are locked within our sensa, which comprises reality.
Some philosophers carry this idea further, they consider that the senses stimulate ideas in the mind ,
these ideas are what is regarded as reality. Everything is a product of mind, there is no 'out there' in
the material sense. The argument is complicated, but I am sure that it has been discussed in these
pages before, if you care to pursue it, you may find something under the heading of "Idealism" or
"Empirical Idealism."

There is also a sense in which the things we consider as abstract are more real than than things we
consider to be solid. The Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, not only believed that mathematics (
geometry ) were the ultimate reality, but that they also contained a mystic element. The Greek
philosopher, Plato, believed in the reality of "Forms" this concept later graduated into the notion of
"Universals."

Plato, in his search for definitions, i.e. an enquiry into the nature of things, came to the conclusion that
things like beauty, courage, love, etc., had genuine existence and were, therefore, real things in their
own right : he called them "Forms"; thus a beautiful flower, a beautiful scene, a beautiful woman, etc.,
share in the Form of Beauty. Form has been translated as "Idea," but this is misleading in that, unlike
the English word 'idea' it does not carry the suggestion that the entity in question exists only in
someone's mind. According to Plato, then, Beauty itself or the Form of Beauty would exist whether or
not there were any particular beautiful things.

A later development of the notion of Forms produced the notion "Universals." Some philosophers
believe in the existence of Universals, some do not. The arguments for and against are complicated,
but the general notion of one school of thought is, that if things resemble each other they share a
Universal quality, a quality that exists independently and, hence, is a real entity, e.g. White things
share in the quality of "Whiteness," triangles share in the quality of "Triangularity" and so on. (If you
are interested, I recommend you read an interesting little book called, Universals"by Hilary Staniland,
Anchor Books ISBN : 0-385-04481).

The idea of reality then is rather more extended than is generally considered; it covers material
existence, ideas in the mind, phenomena, Forms, Universals, monism, dualism, nature, God, and
Kant's idea of "Things in Themselves" ( again rather complicated). Some ideas are self — eliminating,
if you believe one you falsify another; some could exist side by side, suggesting that reality is a
plurality. As I said at the beginning, at the moment, reality is what you make it, the arguments for and
against the proposed ideas have to be weighed very carefully : then again, it might be very different
from anything so far envisaged.

John Brandon

Hey, let's start with the Big One!

I can see two possible answers. The first is that Reality is the sum total of everything that really
exists. Which leads to several more Big Questions: What really exists? How can we know what really
exists? This sort of answer paints reality as existing independently of us. The trouble is that we have
no direct access to such a reality — all our access is mediated by our senses. Or maybe we have
access to some parts only — our thoughts, for example. Then, maybe, our thoughts aren't real —
only material things are.

The question as to how we can know what exists hints at the second answer. Reality (for me) is all of
which I am aware, or (alternatively) reality (for us) is all of which we are intersubjectively aware. This
overcomes the problem of access, but creates problems of its own. If we construct reality, then is
their any objective reality, independent of us? It seems that there can't be. Further, if you and I (or my
society and yours) disagree about what is, then is there any way to decide?

As you can see, there are many, many questions opened up by your question.

Tim Sprod