what makes something real?

16 responses total.

All we can ever know about the world, we detect through our senses.  So it
would seem logical that something is real if we can sense it.  Of course, that
opens up a whole bunch of other questions, including similar ones about the
nature of conciousness, sensation, etc...

that's a good start.

how do we sense things? if we accept commonly held science, our senses
are processed thorough our brain. how do we know that our brain isn't
lying to us?

It is nonsensical to say that there is any reality other than what our senses
tell us.  Our brain cannot "lie" to us, our senses cannot "lie" to us, becuase
they are the only authority we have.  There is no outside reality to compare
them to.

ok, so when you see yourself in a mirror, you're really in the mirror?

as far as your sense of sight will tell you.  Your other senses will say
otherwise, so it's just a matter of whether you trust your vision, or the
other four in conjuction, more.

Yes, but humans are more than a collections of neural pathways and
clearly-defined senses. We have a perception that goes beyond touch, smell,
taste, hearing, and sight. Consciousness is our sixth sense. We are unique
in that we have the ability to create and interpret. Reality is different for
everyone. Reality is a lot less "real" than most fantasy.

Who says non-human animals are unable to interpret?

The things we think are real because we think them to be real. The whole
world is the projection of our mind. All the things seem to be REAL because we
want them to be so

Hello Ellen. I'm curious about this "sixth sense". Isn't being concious (sp?),
nothing more than recieving from your senses? Are you saying that intelligence
is a sense, in the same way that the other five are? We are not unique when
it comes to the ability to create and interpret.

Intuition, perhaps?

When we normally want to take decisions, about any thing we always get
more than one question or answer for our problem either supporting our
decision or to negate it where do this voices originate, has it
got to do something with  our head and heart, say one part deals
with one aspect and the other about the other. or is it an illusion
which we get and can be made as one voice if we concentrate on it ?.

Yeap, there is a conflict when we are about to take a decision but they
originate from the same place and are just different aspect to be considered
before deciding correctly. Also there is conflict between out morals and
desires. But if we coincide our morals with our words and deeds( this is
possible although coinciding morals with thought is impossible and even
undesired) we can get to a complete solution. Courage is required to execute
the decision. Fear causes confusion. Issac Asimov has written, ' Never let your
moralities prevent you from doing what is right.'

Hi, it's me again. I thought I was deviating from the topic and so here I am
again. Reality is what we see agreed. But it's what we all see together and not
what each one of sees individually. Man in addition to senses and intelligence
also has communication. One can tell the other that he has perceived wrongly
and give him the correct one. So reality is the observation of all life forms
in all possible ways combined together to form a grand picture.

What makes somthing unreal?

who sets the boundries of reality?

they seem so hazy.

@ #14: our disagreement makes things unreal. we consider as real only that
what we can perceive, either by our senses or by our mind (realizing ideas,
thoughts) the things we don't agree with, we consider as illusions. 

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