What is "real"?

Question

If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain

Is that what it is?

Answer 1

there is a difference between perception and what is real. Real is what is. Our perception may be faulty.

Example: You are deaf and you walk out in front of a train at night. Your back is to the train and, of course, you don't hear the whistle. You don't perceive the train, but, because it is real, you get killed.

Answer 2

Real in the context of general every day discussion is generally what you say, those things that cause electrical stimulus in the brain from the activation of the senses (although not all electrical signals can be considered "real" since thought, an electrical impulse, is not considered reality in every day discussion).

Once we step outside of general conversation and discuss real in terms of educated conjecture we get to discover real is not real. In philosophy, reality is still debated as to it's true existence. If reality were true, why and how can arguments be made about the relevance or actuallity of things within it? If truth is non-negotiable how can we turn a chair into a table instantly merely by eating on it?

Go into science... You conscience does not actually percieve everything in reality. If it did it would overload and you would go crazy. Imagine a world where you could not tune out even the smallest detail. You would be overwhelmed. Does this negate reality since it can never be truely percieved in it's entirety by the human mind? How can we proove something we can not really percieve? And then there's string theory... That blows anything realting to the common definitition of reality out of the water...

In the end, reality is what you decide it is... Personally, I subsribe to a belief that "reality" is a shared space. What is created in reality is that which is shared in common experience with other conscious minds and created out of a force of will or general consensus conscious or unconscious. Chairs are chairs because that's what we want them to be. If we all woke up one day and decided and whole heartedly believed that chairs could speak, they would.

Answer 3

Yes, but there is more to those electrical signals. Research something called "The String Theory". it is explains the ability to have a six sence.

Answer 4

People create their own reality. What is real for one person is not necessarily real for another. It's a matter of perception and it sometimes reaches well beyond our five senses.

Answer 5

Your 'real' is anything that exists or had existed. Dreams are real, but they are abstact. Ben Franklin was real, even if you can't detect him using your five senses.