A Philosophical Happy Hour on what makes something “real”, what is “reality”, what is “realism”, what belongs to the “real world”, how we know “the real”, and why it is important.
“Just wait until you get into the real world.” “That isn’t a real problem.” “Get a real job.” We have all heard expressions such as these, no doubt. Perhaps we have even uttered them ourselves. But what do we mean, by the word “real”? We hear things described as “fake”, by which is meant—somehow—what is “unreal”, and usually carries a sense of the counterfeit: what pretends to be but is not real in fact. There seems, therefore, something about the true and the false which is indicated by the term “real” and its opposites.
But “true” and “false” may not be known with any greater clarity than are “real” and “fake”. So where can we turn to discover the meaning of “the real” and “reality”?
The “Real World”
I distinctly recall, while attending a small Catholic College in northern Georgia, in 2008, a line delivered by the chaplain during a homily. “You have no idea how easy it is to be Catholic here,” he said, “Just wait until you get out into the real world.” It is a common sentiment: college, in general, is not taken to be the “real world”. One has responsibilities but the repercussions for mild neglect of them, usually, are small. The institutional structure allows lots of abuse; you can get away with many things. (Incidentally, he was quite correct about the relative ease of maintaining one’s Catholic faith in such an insular environment. But I digress…)
But this raises serious questions—I think especially today, in our environment ubiquitously permeated by the digital form of life—about what the “real world” actually is. Why is college not “real”? Simply because the consequences are not the same as they are in the world of work? Are we protected from reality until we graduate with a degree? Is hard labor (whether physically demanding or mentally grinding) requisite for “reality”?
I am not certain that putting on work boots and gloves, or picking up a briefcase and a commute, is any more “real” than grabbing books and going to class, even if these are behaviors significant of more rigorous standards and more immediately life-altering consequences. Nevertheless, something important nevertheless resides in the judgments we make about what is or is not real. In other words, we ascribe normativity—rules about what ought to be—to what is real. If something truly matters, it belongs to the real world: and conversely, if it does not belong to the real world, it does not truly matter.
Realism and Katharsis
However, I am confident that the sense of important placed upon the “real world” cannot tell us, at all, what “the real” is. Conversely, I suggest, we may turn to philosophy. Indeed, there is a long tradition of philosophy that either describes itself or has been described as “realist”. In this, it is opposed to “idealism”. This latter school of thought holds that we know our ideas directly, and only know “reality” by some further cognitive operation. By contrast, “realism” holds that the objects of our thoughts are—in some way or another—real things themselves.
There are varieties, of course, of both realism and idealism. Daniel Wagner (a Faculty Fellow) and I have argued, elsewhere, that idealism (or even more broadly, any non-realist approach) is not actually a philosophical attitude. Anti-realist thinking rejects the thesis that the mind and the world are naturally compatible with one another. With this rejection, it discards the whole order of reason.
But while idealism does this more-or-less explicitly, many other disorders of the mind reject, discard, or otherwise obscure the order of reason and therefore the real as well—without clear and explicit intention to do so. We become disordered through ideologies and addictions, through unquestioned presuppositions and moral tenacity, through the adherence to myths and irrational beliefs of countless kinds. To overcome these ailments, we benefit from a philosophical katharsis: that is, a “purification of the soul through education, where impurity is removed from the soul so that it can obtain what is fitting for it in a state of health and harmony.”
Discovering Reality
Please join us this Wednesday (22 January 2025) for our Philosophical Happy Hour (5:45–7:15pm ET; latecomers welcome!) to pursue a philosophical katharsis on our understanding of reality and the real world!
philosophical happy hour
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Come join us for drinks (adult or otherwise) and a meaningful conversation. Open to the public! Held every Wednesday from 5:45–7:15pm ET.
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