Objective Reality
Is there such a thing as an objective reality? Well, I don't know. I do know that I (and everyone else I've ever met, for that matter) view(s) the world subjectively. But if most of us view the same thing in the same way (e.g. 3000 people look at a spade and see a spade and one person looks at a spade and sees a geranium) then surely it must be that in an objective reality (if such a thing exists). Now, what if 20 people look at one thing and say it's x and 20 people look at it and say it's y. Well, then, I guess you ask more people. But what if no matter how many people you ask, you always get an exactly 50/50 split? Which answer should it be in an objective reality? And if all we ever experience is a subjective reality, how do we know that an objective reality exists?
I guess this is why I prefer the idea of a consensus reality. If more people believe something is x than y, it's x. If it's the other way around, it's y. I can appreciate that this does mean that if enough people believe in God, then He must exist and the same is true of the moon landings being faked and everything else. I guess there's problems to both viewpoints, really.
Maybe it's possible that the consensus reality is also the objective reality. But then we have the flaws in both systems. Hmm, maybe someone (likely Sean cause he likes these philosophical posts) will make an insightful comment that I can edit this to include.
[ Entry posted at: Sun 07 May 2006 21:24:28 BST | 1 comment(s)... | Cat: Philosophical ]
Sean Handley writes:
This all boils down to the definition of reality.
Whether an objective reality exists or not is beyond the scope of human perception. All perception is subjective a la The Matrix. Clichéd but true.
The only way we can perceive the universe is via our senses. There's no fundamental conceptual level of reality beyond our senses, or rather, if there is, we have no way of knowing. (See "If a tree falls in a forst..." for more).
Despite your mind being contained within the universe, the universe is also contained within your mind. Whether the two match is something we will never know, but the temptation is to say they don't, since we assume reality to be constant and our perception of it to be variable (See LSD for more).
The only truly fundamental perception of the universe would be if it retained a perception of itself and all observers were one and the same. Then there would only be one perception and the consensus reality would be 1/1. This could be called a universal consciousness or even "God".
My guess is as good as yours. Want to drop some acid and get closer to (or further from) an answer?
[ Thu 11 May 2006 21:48:12 BST ]