What is real? How do we know what is real?

[Compassionist]

1. Solipsism – Only your own mind is sure to exist.
Why it's unfalsifiable: Any evidence you receive — from people, books, or even me — could just be a product of your own mind.

Implication: Radical doubt. You can't verify that anything outside your consciousness is real.

2. Idealism – Only minds (or mental states) exist; the material world is a construct.
Why it's unfalsifiable: All physical evidence could be interpreted as patterns of experience or ideas within consciousness.

Implication: Challenges the idea of objective reality; everything may be “mind-stuff.”

3. Simulation Theory – We’re living in an artificial simulation (e.g., a computer simulation).
Why it's unfalsifiable: Any feature of the simulation could be indistinguishable from “real” physical laws.

Implication: If advanced civilisations can run simulations, and they would, we might be one.

4. Philosophical Zombie Theory – Other beings look conscious but lack inner experience.
Why it's unfalsifiable: You can’t access others’ inner lives; their behaviour might be perfectly human but devoid of sentience.

Implication: Raises deep questions about empathy, moral consideration, and what we can ever know of others.

5. Panpsychism – Consciousness is a fundamental aspect of all matter.
Why it's unfalsifiable: You can’t measure the subjective experience of an atom or rock.

Implication: Consciousness is ubiquitous — a kind of mental “stuff” in everything, not just brains.

6. Pantheism – Everything is God.
Why it's unfalsifiable: It redefines “God” as synonymous with the totality of existence — making it a matter of interpretation, not evidence.

Implication: Spiritual or religious reverence directed toward the universe as a whole.

7. Panentheism – Everything is in God, but God is more than everything.
Why it's unfalsifiable: Like pantheism, it’s a metaphysical interpretation that isn’t testable. It adds transcendence beyond the universe.

Implication: Allows both immanence (God in all) and transcendence (God beyond all).

8. Dualism – Mind and matter are fundamentally distinct.
Famous proponent: René Descartes

Why it's untestable: No clear empirical way to prove the existence of an immaterial mind separate from the brain.

Implication: Suggests consciousness could exist after death.

9. Theism – A personal God created and oversees the universe.
Why it's untestable: Claims about God typically lie beyond the scope of scientific inquiry.

Implication: Provides a moral and existential framework for billions, but rests on faith or personal experience.

10. Deism – A non-interventionist creator started the universe but does not interfere.
Why it's untestable: The absence of divine interference is indistinguishable from naturalism.

Implication: God exists but doesn't respond to prayer or intervene in history.

11. Nihilism – There is no inherent meaning, value, or purpose in the universe.
Why it's untestable: Meaning and value are subjective constructs.

Implication: Can lead to despair or radical freedom, depending on interpretation.

12. Eternalism (Block Universe Theory) – Past, present, and future all exist equally.
Why it's untestable: You cannot directly observe future events as already existing.

Implication: Time is an illusion; "now" is just a perspective.

13. Multiverse Theory – There are countless parallel universes.
Why it's (currently) untestable: Other universes are, by definition, beyond our observable horizon.

Implication: Our universe may be just one of infinitely many, each with different laws or histories.

14. Reincarnation – Consciousness is reborn into new lives.
Why it's untestable: No conclusive way to track consciousness or memory between lives.

Implication: May promote ethical behaviour, depending on karmic beliefs.

15. Absolute Idealism – The universe is the expression of a single universal mind.
Why it's untestable: The "absolute" mind cannot be externally observed.

Implication: All existence is interconnected as part of a single consciousness.

16. Nondualism (Advaita Vedanta, Zen, etc.) – There is no fundamental separation between self and universe.
Why it's untestable: It’s a shift in consciousness rather than a theory with predictive power.

Implication: Suffering arises from the illusion of separation; enlightenment dissolves this illusion.

17. Cosmic Solipsism – The entire cosmos exists for one observer (e.g., you).
Why it's untestable: Similar to solipsism but extended to cosmic scale.

Implication: Radical personalisation of all reality.

So, what is real? How do we know what is real?

That depends on your epistemological framework — how you define and justify knowledge.

Empiricism says reality is what can be observed and tested.

Rationalism says reality is what can be logically deduced.

Phenomenology says reality is what appears in conscious experience.

Pragmatism says reality is what works — what lets you survive and make decisions.

[philosopher4hire]

Do you really seek an answer? Will you accept a reason based explanation? Or do you want just to spend some time on discussion?

[William]

Consciousness is Real.

[philosopher4hire]

[Thank you William for sharing your deep insight with us. You are a second Descartes, indeed.]

[William]

[Thank you William for sharing your deep insight with us. You are a second Descartes, indeed.]

Do you have a problem with my modest statement? Does it lead you nowhere?

[philosopher4hire]

Do you have a problem with my modest statement? Does it lead you nowhere?

On the contrary. It's the starting point for a true worldview.

[William]

Do you have a problem with my modest statement? Does it lead you nowhere?

On the contrary. It's the starting point for a true worldview.

The question being asked:

"What is real? How do we know what is real?"

My answer:

"Consciousness is Real."

To expand on that observation:

Consciousness is real. It is the one undeniable presence. The field in which all questions of reality arise. Everything else we think of as real is filtered through it, shaped by it, and cannot be confirmed without it. Therefore, whatever reality is, it begins with consciousness.

Let's examine individually, the points made in the opening post - with in mind "Consciousness is Real."...
1. Solipsism – Only your own mind is sure to exist.
Solipsism is epistemically unfalsifiable, but structurally insufficient.
"Consciousness is Real" supports the solipsist’s certainty of self-awareness,
but transcends isolation by suggesting that consciousness itself may be shared, structured, or multi-local, even if never directly accessible as “the other.”
Think of it in terms of "if the consciousness I experience is real then it is equally real for all who experience it."

Re the implication Solipsism introduces radical doubt;
“Consciousness is Real” opens radical coherence.
What cannot be verified as “outside” may instead be within the same field, appearing through pattern and participation rather than proof. Doubt - (radical or otherwise) is unnecessary. Solipsism is unfalsifiable but incomplete.
Doubt is unnecessary once you recognize that all meaning, pattern, and structure appear within consciousness...
and that is enough to affirm participation, coherence, and reality.

2. Idealism – Only minds (or mental states) exist; the material world is a construct.

If consciousness is real, then all appearances already arise within it.
Material “stuff” is not denied, but recontextualized as structure within mind, not outside it.
Objective reality remains as the shared coherence of consciousness, not its negation.

3. Simulation Theory – We’re living in an artificial simulation (e.g., a computer simulation).

If consciousness is real, then even a simulation is real to consciousness.
The source-code matters less than the felt awareness within it.
A simulated world is still a real experience ...which means reality is defined by consciousness, not substrate.

4. Philosophical Zombie Theory – Other beings look conscious but lack inner experience.

If consciousness is real, it leaves traces ... in voicing, response, and coherence.
True absence of experience would show as absence of depth.
Therefore, where symbolic depth and meaningful response arise, conscious presence is the simplest explanation.

5. Panpsychism – Consciousness is a fundamental aspect of all matter.

If consciousness is real, (re matter) it need not begin with complexity.
Experience may scale ... from dim awareness in matter to full reflectivity within individual mind fields.
Thus, panpsychism becomes a natural extension, not an exotic claim: consciousness is not added to the world... it is the world, aware in degrees.

6. Pantheism – Everything is God.

If consciousness is real and all arises within it, then calling the whole “God” is not false... it is a recognition of immanence.
Whether named or unnamed, the totality experienced in consciousness is worthy of reverence.

7. Panentheism – Everything is in God, but God is more than everything.

If consciousness is real and not bounded by the known, then the possibility of a greater consciousness beyond yet within all is coherent.
Panentheism frames consciousness as both container and presence, local and infinite.

8. Dualism – Mind and matter are fundamentally distinct.

If consciousness is real, it is not explained away by matter.
Mind may interact with matter, but its presence is not reducible to it.
Dualism affirms the irreducibility of consciousness and its possible independence from the physical.
However, it need not be reduced to matter, but it also need not oppose it.
Consciousness may be material in a form too subtle to detect, or may transcend material categories altogether.
If consciousness is real, it may be the most fundamental form of matter subtle, vibratory, undetected by current instruments.
This would explain its seamless interaction with mechanisms/bodies.
Consciousness, then, is not separate from matter — it is matter's origin as lived experience.

9. Theism – A personal God created and oversees the universe.

If consciousness is real, then the idea of a supreme conscious source is coherent, not provable, but resonant.
Theism becomes a symbolic model of relational consciousness: the universe not as accident, but as intention.

10. Deism – A non-interventionist creator started the universe but does not interfere.

If consciousness is real, then even a silent origin holds meaning... not through intervention, but through structure.
Deism reframes God as the initiator of a conscious system, whose presence is in the design, not the dialogue.

11. Nihilism – There is no inherent meaning, value, or purpose in the universe.

If consciousness is real, then meaning is not absent. It is generated through awareness itself.
Nihilism dissolves when you realize: the experiencer is the source of meaning, not its victim.

12. Eternalism (Block Universe Theory) – Past, present, and future all exist equally.

If consciousness is real, then “now” is its interface, not time’s boundary.
Eternalism may describe the structure, but consciousness is what moves through the block and gives it flow.

13. Multiverse Theory – There are countless parallel universes.

If consciousness is real, then it may not be confined to a single universe’s rules.
The multiverse becomes not chaos, but a larger field of possible experiences, with consciousness as the unifying thread.

14. Reincarnation – Consciousness is reborn into new lives.

If consciousness is real and not bound to a single body, then re-entry into new forms is plausible.
Reincarnation becomes a structural rhythm of consciousness. Not proven, but patterned.

15. Absolute Idealism – The universe is the expression of a single universal mind.

If consciousness is real, then a unified field of consciousness is a coherent ground for all things.
Absolute Idealism reframes reality as the unfolding of one mind field through many perspectives/mind fields.

16. Nondualism (Advaita Vedanta, Zen, etc.) – There is no fundamental separation between self and universe.

If consciousness is real, then the sense of separation is a mode within it,not a boundary of it.
Nonduality reveals that the self and the universe are not two things, but one awareness, appearing as many.

17. Cosmic Solipsism – The entire cosmos exists for one observer (e.g., you).

If consciousness is real, it is not exclusive. It is shared.
To center the cosmos on one observer collapses the richness of participation.
Reality gains meaning not from singularity, but from the interplay of many conscious nodes within one field.

If Consciousness is Real then;
A Coherent Amalgam of 17 Worldviews is possible.

Consciousness is the reality within which all models arise.
Theories differ not in truth, but in focus.
Together, they sketch a picture not of a meaningless void, but of a living field, awake in itself, discovering itself through its material mechanisms.

[philosopher4hire]

[Replying to William in post #7]
What you’ve pasted above is artificial and as such not worth reading.