This one is a bit abstract. It’s written not so much to share what I know, but more to clarify my own thinking and comments are very welcome The question is what is reality? Is it subjective ? Is there anything like objective reality?
For many years a flat earth with the sun revolving around it was “objective’ reality, till someone turned it into an objective falsehood. Closer in time was the objective reality that time was a constant and then along came Einstein and he destroyed that idea.
But even if we look at a more day-to-day level, the picture can be quite confusing. We often say, lets look at this objectively. The idea is to “see” and express reality without a personal view point. One could say 2 plus 2 = 4 is an objective reality. Or a cube has six identical square surfaces and eight equal straight edges. Or that the colours in the USA flag are white, blue and red. Now indulge my foolishness and fancy a bit, and let me take this thinking to an extreme.
What we are actually saying is that everyone who is human will perceive the cube or the colours similarly. But what if cows had the ability to communicate with us? Now we know that cows can’t distinguish between red and brown. So when a cow saw the US flag would its reality of colours be the same as ours ? And where would that put “objective” reality. Then again, the eye structure of cows is different from those of humans. It is reasonable to assume that cows don’t ‘see” shapes , lines and surfaces in same way as humans. So is the reality of a cube still “objective” ?
In summary, when we talk of objective reality, we are talking about identical perception by intelligent organisms with identical sensory apparatus. So , in a sense, reality is dependent on the sensory apparatus of the subject, and thus all reality is only subjective. It is estimated that the known universe has at least a million planets capable of supporting intelligent life of the human variety. But is it necessary that their eye structure will be identical to ours on earth ? Very unlikely, and that is a big setback for “objective” reality. Is this article leading anywhere. Possibly not , at least not for now.
For many years a flat earth with the sun revolving around it was “objective’ reality, till someone turned it into an objective falsehood. Closer in time was the objective reality that time was a constant and then along came Einstein and he destroyed that idea.
But even if we look at a more day-to-day level, the picture can be quite confusing. We often say, lets look at this objectively. The idea is to “see” and express reality without a personal view point. One could say 2 plus 2 = 4 is an objective reality. Or a cube has six identical square surfaces and eight equal straight edges. Or that the colours in the USA flag are white, blue and red. Now indulge my foolishness and fancy a bit, and let me take this thinking to an extreme.
What we are actually saying is that everyone who is human will perceive the cube or the colours similarly. But what if cows had the ability to communicate with us? Now we know that cows can’t distinguish between red and brown. So when a cow saw the US flag would its reality of colours be the same as ours ? And where would that put “objective” reality. Then again, the eye structure of cows is different from those of humans. It is reasonable to assume that cows don’t ‘see” shapes , lines and surfaces in same way as humans. So is the reality of a cube still “objective” ?
In summary, when we talk of objective reality, we are talking about identical perception by intelligent organisms with identical sensory apparatus. So , in a sense, reality is dependent on the sensory apparatus of the subject, and thus all reality is only subjective. It is estimated that the known universe has at least a million planets capable of supporting intelligent life of the human variety. But is it necessary that their eye structure will be identical to ours on earth ? Very unlikely, and that is a big setback for “objective” reality. Is this article leading anywhere. Possibly not , at least not for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment