The central theme of the fourth part of the book is the question of reality and its perception in today’s world. Historically, people have analyzed reality in terms of religion or science. The religious concept was the first, and people believed that everything around them was only because it was created by God. At the same time, the scientific concept of reality, based on the claims of scientists, emerged as a result of human evolution and analytical abilities. Thus, humanity today cannot rely strictly on either one of these two concepts since each has flaws that make it unsuitable for universal application. Most of the reality created by scientific theory is the result of human observation and detailed study. Today, science can explain most of the reality we experience. At the same time, science cannot explain those phenomena that are not amenable to experiments and processes of observation.
On the one hand, some people take as reality absolutely everything that happens and is observed, which is wrong because it has no comparative reading. In this situation, metaphysics and, in particular, metaphysicians help to explain which categories of things and phenomena are to be considered real and which are merely illusions. Greek scholars such as Thales, Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Democritus were representatives of the school of ancient materialism that focused on material comparative things like fire, water, or the atom. They were followed by the school of ancient immaterialism represented by Pythagoras, Parmenides, Zeno of Elea, and Heraclitus. These scholars associated metaphysical phenomena with abstract phenomena, where they could change the form of reality and change the perspective of its perception for better understanding.
When it comes to the reflection part, I can fully agree with Heraclitus’ quote: “Reality is changing, but with an underlying logos, or logic” (Solomon & Higgins, 2022, p. 119). In this utterance, the author indicates to us that reality is constantly changing, but its tendencies to change are respected within the logic of movement, which enables people to notice these metamorphoses in temporal space.
On the other hand, I cannot entirely agree with an important aspect of the Zeno of Elea’s quote: “Reality is unchanging, and motion is unreal” (Solomon & Higgins, 2022, p. 119). This quote is reinforced by the presence of many paradoxes of motion, one of which is ‘the paradox of the arrow. I believe that Zeno of Elea has constructed a special mathematical framework of reality, whereas reality does not depend on the existence of mathematics or its arguments. Of course, it is theoretically possible to describe the route of the arrow from point A to point B using an infinity of intermediate points, but in real life, the arrow does not make intermediate routes but flies directly from point A to point B, and as practice shows, it reaches it. To elaborate on the concept of ‘motion,’ I would cite Plato: “We can never have true knowledge of anything that is in a constant state of change” (Gaarder, 2007, p. 51). Plato admits the existence of reality and puts forward the theory that it is impossible to study constantly changing substances because their initial parameters are constantly undergoing metamorphoses.
Finally, the topic of reality is more difficult to perceive and analyze than previous ideas, such as God and religion, from which one can temporarily distance oneself. However, this only adds to the importance of studying it, and from all my reading, I have learned that one must always take into account the concept of ‘metamorphosis’ and be prepared to constantly change the initial properties of all the objects people, and phenomena being analyzed. For example, this year, I ended a relationship with several people close to me. Our connection ended because they changed very quickly, and I did not have time to change in my head many of the output parameters that make up my opinion of them.
References
Gaarder, J. (2007). Sophie’s world. Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Solomon, R. C., & Higgins, K. M. (2022). The big questions (8th ed.). Wadsworth Publishing.