Reality is generally understood as the sum or aggregate of everything in existence—everything that is not imaginary. It is what actually exists independently of our perceptions, beliefs, or imaginations. Philosophically, reality is studied under ontology, a branch of metaphysics, which questions what kinds of things exist and what it means for something to be real. There are several perspectives on reality:
- Realism: The belief that reality exists independently of our perceptions or beliefs. For example, physical objects continue to exist whether or not anyone is observing them.
- Idealism: The view that reality is fundamentally immaterial or dependent on the mind.
- Scientific Realism: The idea that even unobservable entities proposed by scientific theories exist in reality.
Reality can also refer to the totality of all things, events, and phenomena, whether observable or not, which a worldview or conceptual framework attempts to describe. On a more personal level, "reality" can vary by individual perception, meaning people experience and interpret reality differently based on their senses, consciousness, cultural background, and language. Philosophers like Kant argued that we can never know reality "in itself" apart from our sensory and cognitive limitations. In everyday terms, reality is what we perceive through our senses and experience physically, but it can be influenced by biases, illusions, language, and social constructs, making it somewhat relative and multifaceted. In summary, reality is both the objective state of all that exists and the subjective experience and interpretation of that existence by conscious beings. It is the foundation of what is true and factual in the universe, beyond mere imagination or belief.
