Have you ever wondered if the world is really there when you're not looking? We tend to take the reality of our world very much for granted. This book will lead you down the rabbit hole in search of something we can point to, hang our hats on and say this is real. On the way, Jim Baggott examines some of the things that have been said about reality by a few of the world's greatest thinkers-from the philosophers of ancient Greece to modern scientists and social theorists.
Where are you right now? Maybe you're standing in a bookstore, flicking idly through the pages of this book. Maybe you're sitting on a train, or in an airport lounge, killing time. Maybe you're sitting up in bed, reading this as a way of shutting out the mental clamour of your day prior to shutting down.
How do you know any of this is real? We take the reality of our world very much for granted. And why not? Reality does have this habit of always being there when we wake up in the morning. It remains pretty consistently predictable through the day, and is still with us at night when we drift off to sleep. This reality has a social dimension – we live and work alongside other people; we make money, we spend money (in bookstores, for example).
We get married. We vote in elections. This reality also has a physical dimension – we live in a world that contains physical objects, such as books, houses, cars, trains, mountains, rivers and trees. These objects give us sensations, of sight, taste, smell, hearing and touch. Underpinning all this is supposed to be a long list of tiny unobservable physical objects that scientists tell us make up the larger objects that we see and interact with.
These tiny physical things are molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, photons, and many more things besides, all dancing on the stage of three-dimensional space, to the tune of one-dimensional time.
This book is an exploration of reality from the social to the perceptual to the physical level. My aim is to lead you down through these levels in search of something we can point to, hang our hats on and say this is real. Organized into three parts, it asks three basic questions.
Is money real?
Are colours real?
Are photons real?
Surprisingly, the answers aren't at all obvious, and many are quite disturbing. At each step the book examines some of the things that have been said about reality by a few of the world's greatest thinkers, from the philosophers of ancient Greece to modern scientists and social theorists, all kept firmly within the bounds of common comprehension.
This is basically a philosophy book. It starts with aspects of social theory and the philosophy of society, takes in classical, classical modern and contemporary philosophy, and ends with what I have always preferred to call natural philosophy, what others might call physics. If you have no background in social studies, or philosophy, or science, do not be alarmed, for you will not need it.
Where are you right now? Maybe you're standing in a bookstore, flicking idly through the pages of this book. Maybe you're sitting on a train, or in an airport lounge, killing time. Maybe you're sitting up in bed, reading this as a way of shutting out the mental clamour of your day prior to shutting down.
How do you know any of this is real? We take the reality of our world very much for granted. And why not? Reality does have this habit of always being there when we wake up in the morning. It remains pretty consistently predictable through the day, and is still with us at night when we drift off to sleep. This reality has a social dimension – we live and work alongside other people; we make money, we spend money (in bookstores, for example).
We get married. We vote in elections. This reality also has a physical dimension – we live in a world that contains physical objects, such as books, houses, cars, trains, mountains, rivers and trees. These objects give us sensations, of sight, taste, smell, hearing and touch. Underpinning all this is supposed to be a long list of tiny unobservable physical objects that scientists tell us make up the larger objects that we see and interact with.
These tiny physical things are molecules, atoms, protons, neutrons, electrons, photons, and many more things besides, all dancing on the stage of three-dimensional space, to the tune of one-dimensional time.
This book is an exploration of reality from the social to the perceptual to the physical level. My aim is to lead you down through these levels in search of something we can point to, hang our hats on and say this is real. Organized into three parts, it asks three basic questions.
Is money real?
Are colours real?
Are photons real?
Surprisingly, the answers aren't at all obvious, and many are quite disturbing. At each step the book examines some of the things that have been said about reality by a few of the world's greatest thinkers, from the philosophers of ancient Greece to modern scientists and social theorists, all kept firmly within the bounds of common comprehension.
This is basically a philosophy book. It starts with aspects of social theory and the philosophy of society, takes in classical, classical modern and contemporary philosophy, and ends with what I have always preferred to call natural philosophy, what others might call physics. If you have no background in social studies, or philosophy, or science, do not be alarmed, for you will not need it.
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