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Single Idea 15046
[filed under theme 7. Existence / D. Theories of Reality / 3. Reality
]
Full Idea
I conclude that there is a primitive metaphysical concept of reality, one that cannot be understood in fundamentally different terms.
Gist of Idea
Reality is a primitive metaphysical concept, which cannot be understood in other terms
Source
Kit Fine (The Question of Realism [2001], Intro)
Book Ref
-: 'Philosophers' Imprint' [-], p.1
A Reaction
Fine offers arguments to support his claim, but it seems hard to disagree with. The only alternative I can see is to understand reality in terms of our experiences, and this is the road to metaphysical hell.
The
25 ideas
with the same theme
[sort of reality to which realists are committed]:
221
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Absolute ideas, such as the Good and the Beautiful, cannot be known by us
[Plato]
|
6562
|
Plato's reality has unchanging Parmenidean forms, and Heraclitean flux
[Plato, by Fogelin]
|
12095
|
Knowledge of potential is universal and indefinite; of the actual it is definite and of individuals
[Aristotle]
|
6262
|
We lack some sense or other, and hence objects may have hidden features
[Montaigne]
|
12752
|
Only unities have any reality
[Leibniz]
|
21926
|
Schopenhauer, unlike other idealists, says reality is irrational
[Schopenhauer, by Lewis,PB]
|
10352
|
The real is the idea in which the community ultimately settles down
[Peirce]
|
22202
|
The World is all experiencable objects
[Husserl]
|
5370
|
Space is neutral between touch and sight, so it cannot really be either of them
[Russell]
|
22161
|
Readiness-to-hand defines things in themselves ontologically
[Heidegger]
|
13934
|
To be 'real' is to be an element of a system, so we cannot ask reality questions about the system itself
[Carnap]
|
17659
|
Reality is largely a matter of habit
[Goodman]
|
8507
|
Some think of reality as made of things; I prefer facts or states of affairs
[Armstrong]
|
12598
|
Reality is the overlap of true complete theories
[Harman]
|
2329
|
Causal power is a good way of distinguishing the real from the unreal
[Kim]
|
7974
|
Without God we faced reality: what do we face without reality?
[Baudrillard]
|
6082
|
If causal power is the test for reality, that will exclude necessities and possibilities
[McGinn]
|
1605
|
Reality can be viewed neutrally, or as an object of desire
[Roochnik]
|
9211
|
A non-standard realism, with no privileged standpoint, might challenge its absoluteness or coherence
[Fine,K]
|
15072
|
Bottom level facts are subject to time and world, middle to world but not time, and top to neither
[Fine,K]
|
15047
|
What is real can only be settled in terms of 'ground'
[Fine,K]
|
15046
|
Reality is a primitive metaphysical concept, which cannot be understood in other terms
[Fine,K]
|
15048
|
In metaphysics, reality is regarded as either 'factual', or as 'fundamental'
[Fine,K]
|
15060
|
Why should what is explanatorily basic be therefore more real?
[Fine,K]
|
21660
|
Reality can be seen as the totality of facts, or as the totality of things
[Hofweber]
|