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[[Image:Unreal_Reality_2.jpg|right]]
 
[[Image:Unreal_Reality_2.jpg|right]]
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'''Reality''', in everyday usage, means "the state of things as they actually exist".   
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'''Reality''', in everyday usage, means "the [[state]] of [[things]] as they actually [[existence|exist]]".   
    
*noun (pl. realities)  
 
*noun (pl. realities)  
:# the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them.  
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:# the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an [[idealistic]] or notional [[idea]] of them.  
:# a thing that is actually experienced or seen.  
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:# a thing that is actually [[experience]]d or seen.  
:# the quality of being lifelike.  
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:# the [[quality]] of being lifelike.  
 
:# the state or quality of having existence or substance."
 
:# the state or quality of having existence or substance."
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The term ''reality'', in its widest sense, includes everything that [[being|is]], whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense may include both [[being]] and nothingness, whereas ''[[existence]]'' is often restricted to being (compare with ''[[nature]]''). In other words, "reality", as a philosophical category, includes the formal concept of "nothingness" and articulations and combinations of it with other concepts (those possessing extension in physical objects or processes for example).
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The term ''reality'', in its widest sense, includes everything that [[being|is]], whether or not it is observable or comprehensible. Reality in this sense may include both [[being]] and nothingness, whereas ''[[existence]]'' is often restricted to being (compare with ''[[nature]]''). In other words, "reality", as a philosophical category, includes the [[formal]] concept of "nothingness" and articulations and combinations of it with other concepts (those possessing extension in [[physical]] objects or [[process]]es for example).
    
In the strict sense of western [[philosophy]], there are levels or gradation to the nature and conception of reality. These levels include, from the most subjective to the most objective i.e. rigorous: phenomenological reality, [[fact]], and axiom.
 
In the strict sense of western [[philosophy]], there are levels or gradation to the nature and conception of reality. These levels include, from the most subjective to the most objective i.e. rigorous: phenomenological reality, [[fact]], and axiom.
 
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<center>For lessons on the [[topic]] of '''''Reality''''', [https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Category:Reality follow this link].</center>
 
== Phenomenological reality ==  
 
== Phenomenological reality ==  
 
    
 
    
On a much broader and more subjective level, the private experiences, curiosity, [[inquiry]], and selectivity involved in the personal interpretation of an event shapes reality as seen by one and only one [[individual]] and hence is called phenomenological. This form of reality might be common to others as well, but at times could also be so unique to oneself as to be never experienced or agreed upon by any one else. Much of the kind of experience deemed [[spiritual]] occurs on this level of reality. From a phenomenological perspective, reality is that which is phenomenally real and unreality is nonexistent. Individual perception can be based upon an individual's [[personality]], focus and style of attribution, causing him or her to see only what he or she wants to see or believes to be true. Husserl's phenomenology is ultimately an analysis of the inner structures of [[consciousness]] which involves seeing the underlying nature of consciousness and many things outside of consciousness).
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On a much broader and more subjective level, the [[private]] experiences, curiosity, [[inquiry]], and selectivity involved in the [[personal]] interpretation of an event shapes reality as seen by one and only one [[individual]] and hence is called phenomenological. This form of reality might be common to others as well, but at times could also be so [[unique]] to oneself as to be never experienced or agreed upon by any one else. Much of the kind of experience deemed [[spiritual]] occurs on this level of reality. From a phenomenological [[perspective]], reality is that which is phenomenally real and unreality is nonexistent. Individual [[perception]] can be based upon an individual's [[personality]], [[focus]] and style of attribution, causing him or her to see only what he or she wants to see or believes to be true. Husserl's phenomenology is ultimately an [[analysis]] of the [[Inner Life|inner] structures of [[consciousness]] which involves seeing the underlying nature of consciousness and many things outside of consciousness).
    
== Truth ==   
 
== Truth ==   
According to the less realist trends in philosophy, such as [[postmodernism]]/[[post-structuralism]], [[truth]] is subjective. When two or more individuals agree upon the interpretation and [[experience]] of a particular event, a [[consensus]] about an event and its experience begins to be formed. This being common to a few individuals or a larger group, then becomes the 'truth' as seen and agreed upon by a certain set of people-the '''''consensus reality'''''. Thus one particular [[groups|group]] may have a certain set of agreed truths, while another group might have a different set of consensual 'truths'. This lets different [[community|communities]] and societies have varied and extremely different notions of reality and truth of the external world. The [[religion]] and [[belief]]s of people or communities are a fine example of this level of socially constructed 'reality'. Truth cannot simply be considered truth if one speaks and another hears because individual bias and fallibility challenge the idea that certainty or objectivity are easily grasped. For Anti-realists, the inaccessibility of any final, objective truth means that there is no truth beyond the socially-accepted consensus. (Although this means there are truths, not truth).
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According to the less realist trends in [[philosophy]], such as [[postmodernism]]/[[post-structuralism]], [[truth]] is subjective. When two or more individuals agree upon the interpretation and [[experience]] of a particular event, a [[consensus]] about an event and its experience begins to be formed. This being common to a few individuals or a larger group, then becomes the 'truth' as seen and agreed upon by a certain set of people-the '''''consensus reality'''''. Thus one particular [[groups|group]] may have a certain set of agreed truths, while another group might have a different set of consensual 'truths'. This lets different [[community|communities]] and societies have varied and extremely different notions of reality and [[truth]] of the external world. The [[religion]] and [[belief]]s of people or communities are a fine example of this level of socially constructed 'reality'. Truth cannot simply be considered truth if one speaks and another hears because individual bias and fallibility challenge the [[idea]] that certainty or objectivity are easily grasped. For Anti-realists, the inaccessibility of any final, objective truth means that there is no truth beyond the socially-accepted consensus. (Although this means there are truths, not truth).
    
For realists, the world is a set of definite [[fact]]s, which obtain independently of humans ("The world is all that is the case" - ''[[Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus]]''), and these facts are the final arbiter of truth. [[Michael Dummett]] expresses this in terms of the principle
 
For realists, the world is a set of definite [[fact]]s, which obtain independently of humans ("The world is all that is the case" - ''[[Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus]]''), and these facts are the final arbiter of truth. [[Michael Dummett]] expresses this in terms of the principle
of bivalence [http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/dummett.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Michael Dummett]: Lady Macbeth had three children or she did not; a tree falls or it does not. A statement will be true if it corresponds to these facts - ''even if the correspondence cannot be established''. Thus the dispute between the realist and anti-realist conception of truth hinges on reactions to the epistemic accessibility of facts.
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of bivalence [https://www.iep.utm.edu/d/dummett.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Michael Dummett]: Lady Macbeth had three children or she did not; a tree falls or it does not. A statement will be true if it corresponds to these facts - ''even if the correspondence cannot be established''. Thus the dispute between the realist and anti-realist conception of truth hinges on reactions to the epistemic accessibility of facts.
    
== Fact ==
 
== Fact ==
A fact or factual entity is a phenomenon that is perceived as an elemental principle. It is rarely one that could be subject to personal interpretation. Instead, it is most often an observed phenomenon of the natural world. The proposition 'viewed from most places on Earth, the sun rises in the east', is a fact. It is a fact for people belonging to any group or nationality, regardless of which language they speak or which part of the hemisphere they come from. The Galilean proposition in support of the Copernican [[theory]], that the sun is the center of the solar system is one that states the fact of the natural world. However, during his lifetime Galileo was ridiculed for that factual proposition, because far too few people had a consensus about it in order to accept it as a truth. Fewer propositions are factual in content in the world, as compared to the many truths shared by various communities, which are also fewer than the innumerable individual [[worldviews]]. Much of scientific exploration, experimentation, interpretation and [[analysis]] is done on this level.
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A fact or factual entity is a phenomenon that is perceived as an elemental principle. It is rarely one that could be subject to personal interpretation. Instead, it is most often an observed phenomenon of the natural world. The proposition 'viewed from most places on Earth, the sun rises in the east', is a fact. It is a fact for people belonging to any group or nationality, regardless of which language they speak or which part of the hemisphere they come from. The Galilean proposition in support of the Copernican [[theory]], that the sun is the center of the solar system is one that states the fact of the natural world. However, during his lifetime Galileo was ridiculed for that factual proposition, because far too few people had a consensus about it in order to accept it as a truth. Fewer propositions are factual in content in the world, as compared to the many truths shared by various communities, which are also fewer than the innumerable individual [[frame of reference|worldview]]s. Much of scientific exploration, experimentation, interpretation and [[analysis]] is done on this level.
    
This view of reality is well expressed by [[Philip K. Dick]]'s statement that "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
 
This view of reality is well expressed by [[Philip K. Dick]]'s statement that "Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away."
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QM states that prior to observation, nothing can be said about a physical system other than a probability function which seems to be definable to a degree by assumptions about the system's elements. With observation a system's probability wave function will collapse into a precise quantity which is observable by the means of measuring the device applied. [[Heisenberg's uncertainty principle]] states that there are certain measurements that reduce the accuracy of other measurements of the same system. Primarily, one cannot measure the location and velocity of sub-atomic elements such as an electron precisely because the more one looks for the former the less accuracy one can achieve for the latter. This imprecision introduces an uncertainty into the overall state of the system and the necessity of a choice on the part of the one making the measurement, namely which aspect will he find accurately at the cost of the other. This decision on the part of the measurer has created no small problem for objectivists who insist that at its core reality is objectively present whether anyone notices or not. Several experiments such as the [[double-slit experiment]], and tests of [[Bell's theorem]] and the [[CHSH inequality]] have confirmed that the simple act of observing does impact the system's state in a noticeable way; since the detector itself has to be changed to detect anything at all, there is necessarily a change in the observed particle because of quantum entanglement. But also the state of correlated particles which have not been measured appears to be affected. Even the notion of cause and effect is brought into question in the quantum world where irreducible randomness cannot currently be avoided as a basic assumption. In theory large numbers of random quantum elements seen as a group from a very great distance can seem like cause and effect which is why our level of experience appears to function almost completely deterministically.  
 
QM states that prior to observation, nothing can be said about a physical system other than a probability function which seems to be definable to a degree by assumptions about the system's elements. With observation a system's probability wave function will collapse into a precise quantity which is observable by the means of measuring the device applied. [[Heisenberg's uncertainty principle]] states that there are certain measurements that reduce the accuracy of other measurements of the same system. Primarily, one cannot measure the location and velocity of sub-atomic elements such as an electron precisely because the more one looks for the former the less accuracy one can achieve for the latter. This imprecision introduces an uncertainty into the overall state of the system and the necessity of a choice on the part of the one making the measurement, namely which aspect will he find accurately at the cost of the other. This decision on the part of the measurer has created no small problem for objectivists who insist that at its core reality is objectively present whether anyone notices or not. Several experiments such as the [[double-slit experiment]], and tests of [[Bell's theorem]] and the [[CHSH inequality]] have confirmed that the simple act of observing does impact the system's state in a noticeable way; since the detector itself has to be changed to detect anything at all, there is necessarily a change in the observed particle because of quantum entanglement. But also the state of correlated particles which have not been measured appears to be affected. Even the notion of cause and effect is brought into question in the quantum world where irreducible randomness cannot currently be avoided as a basic assumption. In theory large numbers of random quantum elements seen as a group from a very great distance can seem like cause and effect which is why our level of experience appears to function almost completely deterministically.  
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It has led some such as [[Amit Goswami]], a theoretical nuclear physicist and member of The University of Oregon,  to assume that there is no reality existing, independent of our own [[consciousness]] as observer. However, there is no clear evidence that human consciousness has any special role to play beyond the influence of instrument-settings on result. These phenomena can also be given the more cautious interpretation that quantum systems do contain properties, but not properties directly corresponding to measurements performed on the system by macroscopic instruments. [http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0607057v2 Norsen, T. - Against "Realism"]
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It has led some such as [[Amit Goswami]], a theoretical nuclear physicist and member of The University of Oregon,  to assume that there is no reality existing, independent of our own [[consciousness]] as observer. However, there is no clear evidence that human consciousness has any special role to play beyond the influence of instrument-settings on result. These phenomena can also be given the more cautious interpretation that quantum systems do contain properties, but not properties directly corresponding to measurements performed on the system by macroscopic instruments. [https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0607057v2 Norsen, T. - Against "Realism"]
 
==Quote==
 
==Quote==
The source of [[universe]] reality is the [[Infinite]]. The [[material]] [[things]] of [[finite]] creation are the time-space repercussions of the [[Paradise]] Pattern and the Universal Mind of the [[eternal]] [[God]]. Causation in the physical world, self-[[consciousness]] in the [[intellect]]ual world, and progressing selfhood in the [[spirit]] world÷these realities, projected on a universal scale, combined in eternal relatedness, and [[experience]]d with perfection of [[quality]] and [[divinity]] of [[value]] constitute the reality of the [[Supreme]]. But in an ever-changing universe the Original [[Personality]] of causation, [[intelligence]], and spirit experience is changeless, absolute. All things, even in an eternal universe of limitless values and divine qualities, may, and oftentimes do, change except the Absolutes and that which has attained the physical status, intellectual embrace, or spiritual identity which is absolute.[http://mercy.urantia.org/papers/paper130.html#4.%20DISCOURSE%20ON%20REALITY]
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The source of [[universe]] reality is the [[Infinite]]. The [[material]] [[things]] of [[finite]] creation are the time-space repercussions of the [[Paradise]] Pattern and the Universal Mind of the [[eternal]] [[God]]. Causation in the physical world, self-[[consciousness]] in the [[intellect]]ual world, and progressing selfhood in the [[spirit]] world÷these realities, projected on a universal scale, combined in eternal relatedness, and [[experience]]d with perfection of [[quality]] and [[divinity]] of [[value]] constitute the reality of the [[Supreme]]. But in an ever-changing universe the Original [[Personality]] of causation, [[intelligence]], and spirit experience is changeless, absolute. All things, even in an eternal universe of limitless values and divine qualities, may, and oftentimes do, change except the Absolutes and that which has attained the physical status, intellectual embrace, or spiritual identity which is absolute.[https://mercy.urantia.org/papers/paper130.html#4.%20DISCOURSE%20ON%20REALITY]
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== See also ==
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*[[Absolute (philosophy)]]
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*[[Virtual reality]]
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*[[Social constructionism]]
      
== References ==
 
== References ==
 
#Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2005 (Full entry for reality: "reality • noun (pl. realities) 1 the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. 2 a thing that is actually experienced or seen. 3 the quality of being lifelike. 4 the state or quality of having existence or substance.")
 
#Compact Oxford English Dictionary of Current English, Oxford University Press, 2005 (Full entry for reality: "reality • noun (pl. realities) 1 the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. 2 a thing that is actually experienced or seen. 3 the quality of being lifelike. 4 the state or quality of having existence or substance.")
#[http://www.iep.utm.edu/d/dummett.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Michael Dummett]
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#[https://www.iep.utm.edu/d/dummett.htm Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy on Michael Dummett]
#[http://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0607057v2 Norsen, T. - Against "Realism"]
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#[https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0607057v2 Norsen, T. - Against "Realism"]
    
[[Category: Philosophy]]
 
[[Category: Philosophy]]

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