Dailies Contact Lenses - My dear philosophers, how real is the world we live in?

My dear philosophers, how real is the world we live in?

-Reality? -Society? -Religion? -Existence? -Fame? -Wisdom? -Wealth? -Death? -Pain? -God? All are part of our daily routine. Yet, none exist; yet here we are. In the land of non-existence. The land of imagination; yet to us a reality. How is all this possible? Can pain be imagined? Death nothing more than a mere illusion? Why? How can we die if we never existed? What kind of existence are we living day by day? Hollow? Make-believe? Do not mock me if you haven't ever questioned your own existence. For at least I realize that a human existence for all it's worth amounts to nothing. Your beliefs are as real as the language you are reading. "Keep on pretending, sweetheart". -Prove me wrong; this world proves me right.-Exousia Skotos "True wisdom is in knowing you know nothing".-Socrates

Public Comments

you are true thanks for opening my eyes to all these questions
you are absolutely right, all of those things are empty of value and meaning. They are basically meaningless when you really try to pursue even their definitions.
Is perception of reality always relative? Perception: Mathematically speaking, perception is the integration of pieces information provided by the senses. http://www.gibson-design.com/philosophy/Concepts/$_PERCEPTION_1.html The process of organizing information received through the senses and interpreting it. This is done by the conscious, mentally aware (faculty of) brain. http://biotech.icmb.utexas.edu/search/dict-search2.html?bo1=AND&word=perception&search_type=normal&def= Perception goes beyond plain sensation in that it includes the results of further processing of the sensed stimuli, either conceously or inconceously. http://www.schorsch.com/kbase/glossary/perception.html Recognition and interpretation of sensory stimuli based chiefly on memory. The neurological processes by which such recognition and interpretation are effected. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/perception In psychology. and the cognitive sciences, perception is the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting, and organizing sensory information. It is a task far more complex than was imagined in the 1950s and 1960s, when it was proclaimed that building perceiving machines would take about a decade, but, needless to say, that is still very far from reality. The word perception comes from the Latin perception-, percepio, , meaning "receiving, collecting, action of taking possession, apprehension with the mind or senses." (every moment). Methods of studying perception range from essentially biological or physiological approaches, through psychological approaches through the philosophy of mind and in empiricist epistemology, such as that of David Hume, John Locke, George Berkeley, or as in Merleau Ponty's affirmation of perception as the basis of all science and knowledge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perception_%28psychology%29 The faculty of perceiving; the faculty, or peculiar part, of man's constitution by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs; the act of apperhending material objects or qualities through the senses; - distinguished from conception. (Sir W. Hamilton.) in psychology, mental organization and interpretation of sensory information. The Gestalt psychologists studied extensively the ways in which people organize and select from the vast array of stimuli that are presented to them. Perception is influenced by a variety of factors, including the intensity and physical dimensions of the stimulus; such activities of the sense organs as effects of preceding stimulation; the subject’s past experience; attention factors such as readiness to respond to a stimulus; and motivation and emotional state of the subject. Stimulus elements in visual organization form perceived patterns according to their nearness to each other, their similarity, the tendency for the subject to perceive complete figures, and the ability of the subject to distinguish important figures from background. Perceptual constancy is the tendency of a subject to interpret one object in the same manner, regardless of such variations as distance, angle of sight, or brightness. Through selective attention, the subject focuses on a limited number of stimuli, and ignores those that are considered less important. http://www.bartleby.com/65/pe/percepti.html Perception (psychology), process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world. Sensation usually refers to the immediate, relatively unprocessed result of stimulation of sensory receptors in the eyes, ears, nose, tongue, or skin. Perception, on the other hand, better describes one’s ultimate experience of the world and typically involves further processing of sensory input. http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/RefArticle.aspx?refid=761571997 The 'how it is' to cognitive systems in the world. A means of distinguishing how things are from how a cognizer thinks they are. http://philosophy.uwaterloo.ca/MindDict/P.html Awareness of an object of thought, especially that of apparently external objects through use of the senses. Since things don't always turn out actually to be as they seem to us, there is ample reason to wonder about the epistemological reliability of sense perception, and theories of perception offer a variety of responses. The skeptical challenge to direct realism is often answered by representative realism, phenomenalism, or idealism. http://www.philosophypages.com/dy/p2.htm#perc Our minds are as different as our finger prints - no two are alike. The perception of one person is bound to be different from that of another person - the process used is designated by the word "conception". Still, all those perceptions are interpretations of the same reality. "Our two minds .... One is an act of the emotional mind, the other of the rational mind. In a very real sense we have two minds, one that thinks and one that feels" (Daniel Goleman, Emotional Intelligence, Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 1996, page 8). This rational mind is also called the faculty of logic and reason. The rational mind handles the conscious perceptions. However, the logic used by the rational mind has a drawback. In the 1930s, Austrian mathematician Godel proved a theorem which became the "Godel theorem" in cognition theory. It states that any formalized 'logical' system in principle cannot be complete in itself. It means that a statement can always be found that can be neither disproved nor proved using the means of that particular system. To discuss about such a statement, one must go beyond that very logic system; otherwise nothing but a vicious circle will result. Psychologist say that any experience is contingent - it's opposite is logically possible and hence should not be treated as contradictory. http://www.search.com/search?q=godel+incompleteness+theorem The arguments permitted by the theorem gives rise to many interpretations of the same reality. The Upanishads say that even a the smallest thing in creation, say a one cell organism, is a microcosm. The more you try to know about it, you will understand that there is more to know. Reality has infinite dimensions. Perception is an approximate interpretation of reality.
reality? it's what you percieve of your surroundings. it changes as your intellect changes everytime you discover or realize something new. it enriches itself with every memory. it's as simple as that. it's as real and tangible as reaching out and grabbing the hand of a loved one. feel you're not real? feel you don't exist? then you haven't even been born yet. get a life. meditating is for when you can't live anymore, for when all you're left with are your memories.
Wow...! You are another Socrates..Please think like this. You can change the world at least philosophically...
God is the supreme. Source of knowledge is upon him. World is abstract. When tries to understand you know nothing. Ignorance is bliss . Pray before GOD to lead to light.
Can you be sure that we are not only figments of your imagination? Can you be positive that this entire universe, these galaxies, this internet, this world, this life, these questions, are not simply your way of creating a life worth living? Honestly, none of us have a purpose that we know of. Were the civilizations in other galaxies that were exterminated by some force unknowable by human beings? Were we the only sentient beings in the galaxy? Is there some purpose for the will to power, the will to fame, the will to glory, the will to ego, the will to self actualization? Is there something to be found prior to death, post birth? Are we better than our mammal counterparts, our insect friends, our own creative images? Living is a biological process. Survival is our only truth as of now. These question will send you to the brink of insanity. But who can say what insanity is, who can say sanity is such a thing? Are you wrong in your thoughts, of course not. Am I wrong in mine, of course not. We are born tabula rasa, clean slates. We have no personality, we are created by our societies, our cultures, our loves, our friends, our families, our experiences. One day, we will all own a piece of land, a 6 foot deep, 3 foot wide piece of land. So in answer to your question, and tolstoys question, how much land does a man need? Not much, we only need enough to express ourselves, survive, and die. Good luck in your endeavours.
Existance is fairly tricky but there is a 75% chance it is real I would say. If I subjected you or what we purport you to be to the extremes of the universe or what we assume it to be, you would have death, pleasure and pain. Death and Pain are strong arguments and about 50% of pleasure also would banish arguments against refuting reality.
life is a dream
Just because something is abstract doesn't mean it's not real. If it's not tangible doesn't mean it's not real,for example air. With the exception of God,I don't doubt the existence of anything on your list. I don't doubt my own existence,so I won't mock you. While human existence may be worth nothing,as you say,that doesn't negate the fact humans live in this world. The fact that we have evolved enough to develop abstract concepts merely shows there is more to life than the mundane. Maybe the truly important part of being human is rising above the mundane to a higher plane of thought.
How real ? , as real as you want it to be. If you thought that your life wasn't real then it probably is....for you. But then you might ask to your parents, your friends,some stranger that you helped this morning or someone else how real are you, well i believe some of them will say that you are VERY well indeed real, because huge or little for them any deed that you do affects their lives. Even if you're invisible (like God) they might questioning are you real, but you yourself of course know that you're real and affecting their lives. So yeah, you may think you're not real, but i think you are. And you might think i am not real, but someone else think the otherwise. So you might just assume that we actually all start in a different dimension between one person and another but we all wrapped in the same flesh and blood. And when 2 person think that they are both real than they already in the same dimensions. but if they not see each other one real, well then guess they're still in a different dimensions.
first thing is that very intelligently asked question. I am not appreciating the question i am appreciating the wa it is asked i really liked the way. this is one of the most fundamental questions in philosophy. that whether this world is real in which we live? and if it how real it is. see we all don't live in the same world as a matter of fact we all live in our separate worlds. the worlds of our imaginations and perceptions. in that sense the world is not real it is only a product of our imaginations. but be ware you can not say that world not real in other way that physically it is not there no it can not be said physically everything is there and therefor we see,touch,eat, taste, smell and hear them. everything is there trees, rivers, mountains,planets everything is there and they all are real absolutely real so in this sense you can not say that the wrld is not real, it is absolutey real. than question again remains the same that how real the wold is? the answer is that world is real but we perceive it as per our imagination we don't perceive it as it is and that is the whole problem. our imaginations and perceptions detort the world and than it becomes unreal or virtual or imaginary. if we are able to perceive the world as it is, it is absolutely real. the all efforts of philosophers and enlightened people are to make everyone able to see the world as it is and not as you think it is. see the rose as a rose and it will become real.