Language and Reality (Humans)

by Balance_Maintained , U.S.A., Monday, April 04, 2011, 18:34 (4981 days ago) @ dhw

In my original post, I was using real in the commonsense context. A photon exists. It is real. It can be measured. The absence of a photon, is not real, it is the absence of something real. Darkness, which is the absence of photons, therefore is not real in the sense that 'Darkness' isn't a thing, it is the absence of a 'thing'.-I agree that once you get into a philosophical arena, the definitions of reality and existence and all become very hazy. Normally I chalk this up to people not being able to express an idea in a manner that is easily comprehensible due to the limitations of language. -Reality is the state of things as they actually exist, rather than as they may appear or may be thought to be.[1] In its widest definition, reality includes everything that is and has been, whether or not it is observable or comprehensible.-This is the sense that I generally regard the word reality. Notice that it would either have to be observable or comprehensible. That is important as it allows for the discussion of things not observed to be included into discussions of reality. -Unfortunately, this also leads to ambiguity in language. In general conversation, you may make a reference to the color black, even though by definition black is not a color, but rather the absence of color. Most people understand black as a color, and darkness as an entity just the same as light. They see the state of ignorance as they do the state of being knowledge able. I am trying to make a clear distinction between something that is real, that exists, and a state that is only the absence of something. If time is a reality (which was the one you said you disagreed with), then provide me with a measurable quanta of time that can exist outside of the frame of reference, or definition, of the observer. -Real things, such as photons, we can assume exist independent of the observer because a single photon can be measured and observed.