The Essence of Reality: A Philosophical Inquiry
1. Theoretical Rationale
Humans possess a unique power: reason. This capacity distinguishes us from other living beings and serves a dual purpose: theoretical (gaining knowledge) and practical (guiding our actions). Theoretical capacity is the human ability to acquire knowledge, while practical capacity is the ability to know how to act.
A. Starting Point
Ancient Greek thinkers were the first to question the nature of reason. For these philosophers, theoretical rationality primarily involves thinking skills used to understand the world around us. This stems from a specific human power, intelligence, through which we create universal concepts. This can be summarized in the Greek term “logos.”
B. Universal Concepts
Pre-Socratic philosophers raised the distinction between what things are (their essence) and what they appear to be. This difference highlighted that if knowledge were based solely on the senses, stable and reliable knowledge would be impossible. Our senses can deceive us; they are subject to change. So, how do we access truth? Socrates argued that this required defining universal concepts. For example, the universal concept of “tree” encompasses a pine or a fir. Aristotle later stated that true learning requires not only understanding what things are but also why they are, understanding their causes, and proving our assertions.
This is the starting point of philosophy, which asserts varying degrees of knowledge, ranging from mere opinion (doxa) to scientific knowledge (episteme).
Doxa
- Equivalent to opinion.
- Based on the senses.
- Superficial, uncritical, and limited knowledge.
- Not analyzed or proven; a pseudo-knowledge.
- Explains a limited part of reality.
This distinction (doxa) was made by Plato in the 4th century BC.
Episteme
- Equivalent to science.
- Based on external reality, not on our perception of it.
- Critical and rational: analyzes, evaluates, and judges.
- Explains reality more completely, but acknowledges the complexity of truth.
This raises questions like: What is reality? Can humans fully know reality?
2. Reality
Greek philosophers discovered the distinction between what things are and what they seem to be. This led to the next philosophical question: What is real? The Greeks offered the answer: the real is physis.
2.1 Metaphysics
From its inception, humans have questioned the nature of reality. To understand reality, various sciences emerged throughout history, each studying specific aspects of it. For example, history studies the past, linguistics studies language, etc. But beyond these specific areas, philosophy explores the most general questions about reality’s origin. These are specifically philosophical questions. The term “metaphysics” comes from Greek. Meta often translates to “beyond,” while physik refers to natural phenomena. Thus, metaphysics studies the reality beyond what our senses perceive as material.
For example, if you look at a book, you see its colors, feel its texture, and perhaps smell the paper. Beyond these sensory perceptions, the true material reality is atoms moving in a void. Metaphysics also studies what distinguishes the book from something that is not a book, like a winged horse. Therefore, metaphysics is the study of the ultimate principles of reality that unite all the concrete things studied by individual sciences (history, chemistry, linguistics, etc.). Its first objective is to determine what reality is and to explain our natural world through transcendental concepts.
2.2 The Question of Being: Aristotle
For Aristotle, metaphysics is the study of being as being and its essential properties. It studies what truly exists, not concretely like the special sciences, but in a more general way. It studies what all individuals have in common. Aristotle affirmed that “being” is a concept shared by all beings, but there are different ways of being. It’s not the same to be a table, a cartoon character, or a Greek philosopher.
Aristotle distinguishes between two supreme genres of being:
- Substance: The subject that exists in and of itself, needing nothing else to exist.
- Accidents: Also called attributes, these are the qualities of a substance, what can be said about it.
This distinction has led to important debates throughout the history of philosophy: What is truly substance, and what is an accident?
Reality as a Metaphysical Problem
As Ortega y Gasset stated, humans are thrown into an external, objective reality that they need to understand and transform. With the capacity to think and reason, we seek to understand and shape reality. This need gives rise to science (to understand) and technology (to transform). But humans also need to make sense of reality. We need to know what is and why it is, to give meaning to life and existence. This construction of a theoretical concept of reality is a uniquely human characteristic that distinguishes us from other animals. It is the aim of metaphysics to answer these questions through reasoning. Philosophers build metaphysical systems or models of reality to provide explanations.
2.3 What is True Reality?
For Aristotle, “real” is a complex concept, as not all things exist in the same way or with the same intensity.
The Difference Between Appearance and Reality
We know the Earth constantly moves around the Sun, but we cannot feel this movement. So, is reality just how it appears to the naked eye? This problem is a major metaphysical debate: the difference between what things are and what they appear to be. Many philosophers believe reality lies beyond appearances. We must also consider that the world is extremely complex: there is a physical and objective part (plants, sea, air, etc.), and there are also subjective, psychic, and even possible realities (things that don’t currently exist but could).
Material and/or Spirit
One way to address the question of reality’s origin is to ask about its two main elements: matter and spirit.
- Matter: What things are made of, what we perceive through our senses. Materialistic theories argue that matter is the ultimate cause and element of all reality.
- Spirit: Mind, intellect, soul, the psychic. Spiritualist and idealist theories argue that spirit is the true consciousness and explanatory element of reality.
The main problem of metaphysics is to determine which of the two, matter or spirit, is the defining element of reality. If we admit that there are both matter and spirit, what exists between them? In the case of humans, what is the relationship between body and soul? Are they independent?
2.4 What Characterizes the Real: Unity or Multiplicity?
Reality is constituted by fundamental elements that originated it. Throughout the history of metaphysics, three theories have emerged regarding these elements:
- Monism: Everything can be explained from a single substance. Different beings represent qualitative changes of this single substance. Thales, for example, believed everything was water.
- Dualism: Reality is explained from two dimensions, one material and one spiritual. Plato, for example, believed humans comprise a body (material) and a soul (spiritual), and that reality is composed of an ideal and a material world.
- Pluralism: Reality is composed of a plurality of substances. Greek atomists, for example, explained everything from atoms.
Is Reality Static or Dynamic?
Since its origin, philosophy has questioned whether reality is static or a constantly changing process. Most Greek philosophers believed that only what remains is real. For Parmenides, true reality is perfect and unchanging, while the material world is in flux. Heraclitus, however, argued that everything is in constant change, like a river one cannot step into twice. Aristotle initiated the view that reality is a constantly changing process of becoming, where things are characterized by their uniqueness and defined by their relationships to other things. In this sense, nothing makes sense in isolation, but rather as a set of relationships in a dialectical process. Many philosophers, including Heraclitus, Hegel, Karl Marx, Friedrich Nietzsche, and Ortega y Gasset, have understood reality as dynamic.
C. Essence and Existence
Another major issue discussed in metaphysics is the distinction between essence and existence. Essence is what a being is, what defines it and distinguishes it from others. Existence, on the other hand, is the act of being. For example, a unicorn is a mythical animal with the form of a horse and a horn on its forehead; this is its essence. However, the unicorn does not exist in reality. The great metaphysical debate is whether essence precedes existence or vice versa. For essentialist philosophers, essence is key. Even if individuals come and go, the essence of the species remains immutable. For existentialists, however, existence precedes essence, and humans build their essence throughout their existence.
D. Necessity and Contingency
Metaphysics defines beings by two opposing characteristics. Some beings exist now but may cease to exist; these are contingent. For example, a table can be destroyed by fire and turn to ashes. Other beings have always existed and will always exist; these are necessary. This distinction is clear in Christian thought, which posits that God created the world from nothing. This radical idea distinguishes between contingent beings (created by God and subject to ceasing existence) and the necessary being (God, the creator and eternal being).
2.5 The Structure of Reality
According to Aristotle, reality is complex, with beings existing in many different ways. Metaphysics seeks to classify reality as a structured and ordered set. The part of metaphysics that studies the structure of reality is called ontology. Ontology classifies reality, much like zoology classifies living beings. This classification is a constant activity of the human mind and is present in all cultures. There are various methods of classification:
- Ontological: Reality has an objective structure.
- Epistemological: Reality does not have an inherent order; order is a subjective creation of the human mind.
- Linguistic: Language orders and structures reality. Language conditions our way of seeing and thinking about reality.
This classification of reality is based on criteria of similarity.