What Is Real?

[Ποσειδῶν]

What is real. Is it something you can see, touch, hear and smell?
If so what about hallucinating to the person hallucinating they can sense (see,touch,smell etc.) the hallucinatons, so does that make them real?
Personally i think it does.

[Lily]

Hallucinations aren't really real, they are false, but they do exist like "brain lies". The things that exist in the reality is real. Stuff that everyone (except the blind and so on) can see, hear, feel, smell and/or touch. We can never know if something/everything is real, but on the other hand, can we ever know anything? I think not

[kennethamy]

Originally Posted by Lily

Hallucinations aren't really real, they are false, but they do exist like "brain lies". The things that exist in the reality is real. Stuff that everyone (except the blind and so on) can see, hear, feel, smell and/or touch. We can never know if something/everything is real, but on the other hand, can we ever know anything? I think not

Don't you know that you were born, and that you had parents? Don't you know that leaves are green in the summertime, and that (depending on where you live) it is warmer in the summer than in the winter? I think that we know a lot of things.

We usually mean by saying that X is real, that X is mind-independent. So that no one need believe that X exists, or see or hear (etc.) X, for X to exist. The American poet, Peter Viereck once said, "real is what remains when you stop believing in it". I think that is a pretty good definition.

[Lily]

Originally Posted by kennethamy

Don't you know that you were born, and that you had parents? Don't you know that leaves are green in the summertime, and that (depending on where you live) it is warmer in the summer than in the winter? I think that we know a lot of things.

No, not really, really. I asume and belive that it is true, but I don't know. I usually say that I know stuff like that is true, it's much easier. Otherwise you easily end up in a philosphical oh-what-is-real-is-everything-an-illusion-mess.

[kennethamy]

Originally Posted by Lily

No, not really, really. I asume and belive that it is true, but I don't know. I usually say that I know stuff like that is true, it's much easier. Otherwise you easily end up in a philosphical oh-what-is-real-is-everything-an-illusion-mess.

Why don't you "really really" ?

[mister kitten]

Originally Posted by Ποσειδῶν

What is real. Is it something you can see, touch, hear and smell?

What if someone can't smell, hear, touch, or see? What do you think is real to them?
I'd think only their thoughts are the only real thing to them. But I dunno, I can smell, hear, etc.

[kennethamy]

Originally Posted by mister kitten

What if someone can't smell, hear, touch, or see? What do you think is real to them?
I'd think only their thoughts are the only real thing to them. But I dunno, I can smell, hear, etc.

But if they see, then aren't they seeing something? And if they smell, isn't there something they are smelling? So, isn't what they are seeing and smelling real? And not only to them.

[validity]

Originally Posted by Ποσειδῶν

What is real. Is it something you can see, touch, hear and smell?
If so what about hallucinating to the person hallucinating they can sense (see,touch,smell etc.) the hallucinatons, so does that make them real?
Personally i think it does.

I think that sensations or perceptions that are responses to external stimuli should be regarded as having a greater level of reality then those sensations or perceptions that are internally triggered. I give those external objects a stronger word. I like to say hallucinations are real but do not exist.

[Aedes]

Things that can be sensed can be corroborated by others. That's a useful validation of something's reality.

[richrf]

Originally Posted by Ποσειδῶν

What is real. Is it something you can see, touch, hear and smell?
If so what about hallucinating to the person hallucinating they can sense (see,touch,smell etc.) the hallucinatons, so does that make them real?
Personally i think it does.

Hi,

I tend to agree with you.

When I am dreaming I think it is real, even though others cannot sense or corroborate the dream that I am having.

I know people who had Alzheimer's disease who certainly felt that what they were seeing was real.

I was in a situation in on a jury when it was 12 to 1 against me that something was said during testimony. They all felt that I was sort of crazy for suggesting that I could have heard something that none of them did. However, when the court reporter's transcript was read it had the statements as I remembered them. Now it as 12 to 2 (me and the court reporter), but since legally the court reporter's transcripts is the official recording I was considered correct. Go figure.

So what is real changes depending upon who is perceiving, what type of corroboration is given, the legal authority of the entities, etc. Lot's of people see things that I don't see and vice-versa. Which is real? A group can reach a consensus, but that is all they can do. Each person is still perceiving their own unique view of what is happening.

Rich