Reality is one of the main concepts of philosophical studies. Unfortunately, it is very hard to distinguish the actual meaning of this term. In brief, reality is a special genuine category that denotes things in the way they actually exist. These things are not imagined and their existence is not questioned or disputed. According to the majority of famous philosophers, reality is referred to the physical existence. If something does not exist physically, it does not exist at all. Definitely, this statement is very arguable and vexed. No wonder, the issue of reality is discussed fervently in the circles of philosophers and other thinkers. Oftentimes their ideas and hypotheses are completely different what makes the problem of reality even more interesting.
It will not be a mistake to say that the real things are reliable and understandable to us. They do not change and we know what we can expect from them. Indeed, the real is stable and predictable. Many people say: “I know that it exists, because I see it”. On the one hand, they are right. No one sees love, anger and even God. On the other hand, it is impossible to say that the thing does not exist, inasmuch as you do not see it. We do not see sounds, wind and atoms though they actually exist physically.
Thus, one can say that various abstract things (love, happiness, sorrow, etc.) are not real, whereas they are imagined or generated by our mind. Such invisible things as electrons, temperature, pressure, energy, molecule, X-rays, etc. exist physically and they influence our life directly.
As you see, the problem is very difficult and debatable. The representatives of different philosophical schools do not know whether reality is mental or physical. Although we cannot see love, we clearly feel it. As a result, love, jealousy, anger, irritation, hope and faith exist, because we actually feel them. We cannot reject the idea of the immaterial basis of reality. The explanation of this thought is very simple. Our world is dual. Every human is dual too, forasmuch she is a part of the universe. Our personality consists of the outer physical body and the inner character. One can look like an intelligent and well-bred person though his real personality is completely different.
This person is sly, arrogant and selfish. Hence, his real worldview, emotions, manners and behavior are determined by the mental incarnation of reality. In this case, mental is more important and ‘real’ than physical.
Reality is always opposed to the imaginary, fictional and abstract things as they are ‘false’ and unreal being the products of our mind. At the same time, every book, performance and movie exists physically though it is fictional. In my opinion, one can distinguish two major types of reality.
Foremost, reality can be situational and possess its narrow meaning. Physical and immaterial sides of reality can be referred to the first type. The second definition of reality is broad. The actual reality is a complex of different narrower situational realities. The actual reality defines the general image of the existing universe.
I guess we can observe the possibility of the existence of God in the context of reality. “Is God real?”, “Does God exist?” Apparently, these questions do not have any direct answers. No one has ever seen God though no one can prove that He does not exist. We do not see electrons though they physically exist and influence our life all the time.
Many philosophers observe the concept of reality from the side of space and time. For example, they claim that the past and future are unreal since they do not exist currently. For that reason, many philosophers say that reality is a state of things at the present time. Other thinkers say that past and future are real, but the passage of time is unreal and illusionary.
Overall, reality is a very disputable and broad philosophical category. Different philosophical schools observe this problem from their own angles. Some experts focus on the physical and immaterial embodiments of reality. Others analyze this issue in the context of space and time or truthfulness and falseness.
You can contact EffectivePapers.com to get professional Philosophy essay writing help from academic experts who are available 24/7 online.
