when discussing reality, philosophy kinda freaks me out...............?

Question

this is what i think reality is. please correct me if im wrong.

i think reality is something that exists independently of ideas concerning it.

but the only thing that is realy "real" to each individual is there perceptions on it. am i correct?

its not like we dont exist and everything we know isnt real. and all of our loved ones are just hallucinations right? isnt that just a horrible and scary thought? i mean there actualy is somethin physical right? its just how we see it

Answer 1

Hi Soccer Mom,

You're on to something. The philosopher Immanuel Kant made an argument similar to yours. He argued that reality is indeed independent of our subjective existence; but he also said that the only way we have of interacting (and thus "knowing") that reality is through our senses.

For example... do colors exist? Yes, and their existence is independent of our eyes. But, if everyone were colorblind, could we actually say that the sky was blue? Kant argued that we couldn't. So, the conclusion is, the universe is objective and independent of us, but apart from things that can be proven by an appeal to reason (which is independent of subjective sensations), everything else will only be as real as our senses allow.

Hope this answer helps. Cheers.

Answer 2

It truly depends on how you view life. If you are an atheist, then you can be under the impression that you are god, that whatever you do is correct, and the truth, because there is no higher being to correct you or to say what is right or wrong.
A theist would not believe this.
However, there is an objective truth outside of our minds. We must not let our subjective ideas of the world cloud our judgements of it. Although our ego's would like us to believe that "I am the only person in the world that matters", the opposite is the truth. Everyone is important and matters.
There are two types of knowledge, notional and rational, but it is possible to cloud objective knowledge with subjective beliefs and misinterpret information. Fr. William O'Malley in the book Meeting the Living God has a phrase, 'the tree comes to me.' This means that objective truth takes itself and presents itself to me. For example, a tree in your yard tells you that it is a tree and what type of tree it is by its leaves, what it produces, how it looks, etc. You do not go over to your chair and call it a tree, or go to a maple tree and say that it is a palm tree, because the objective truth of the matter is that it is a chair or a maple tree. No matter how much we might try and force our own views on it, 2 plus 2 will always equal 4.

Answer 3

Everyone has a different reality because everyone has a brain of their own. Reality is nothing more than personal perception of something important to you. If you believe it, and you really do believe it, even if its wrong in my eyes and thousands of others it will still be real to you. You create your own reality. Is your opinion just like anything else in philosophy and the world.

Answer 4

yes. you are entitled to your own opinion. Your perspective is that you are considering what is already implanted in your brain the idea of eternity, that everything seems to be passing scenes and that there is more realistic other than physical, and that is the spiritual reality which is indeed eternal.

Answer 5

In a dream, everything is real and physical too as long as the dreaming goes on and until one wakes up!! How could that cause any scare? Even the scare is just a part of the dream!!!

Answer 6

I think that thought is the basis to what people would like to refer to as enlightenment.

Answer 7

Well, humans are physical, so I won't it is scary. But that is a scary idea.

Answer 8

DUH