Reality Revisited - Social Constructs and Shared Reality as Metaphysical Perceptions
Untangling the definitions and physics of reality and perception
Social constructs are perceptions and subjective beliefs that can be considered as narratives created by societies and cultures to explain, organize, persuade and make sense of various aspects of human life. They include concepts like wealth, power, authority, nations, money, morality and ethics, borders, governments, genders, and even things like time and language.
A common assumption between these constructs is that they are often disguised, presented and assumed as products of collective human agreement and understanding. However, this narrative may be insufficient, because social constructs ubiquituously lack inherent reality beyond human subjective context. Due to the subjective nature of all perception, social constructs do not, and can not, exist in a physical and objective level of reality.
While social constructs are narratives shaped by human perception, they have very real impacts on our lives. They inform and influence our subjective perception of behaviors, beliefs, opportunities, and societal structures. For instance, the construct of authority, while not an inherent aspect of the natural world, holds immense power in our daily lives and societal systems. Sure enough, power and authority themselves are also social constructs and subjectively evaluated perceptions.
Acknowledging that something is a social construct doesn't diminish its impact or importance. Rather, it invites reflexion and critical analysis to evaluate its origins, effects, and relevance to our lives and societies. This analytical understanding is essential for navigating and potentially reshaping these constructs in a manner that aligns with societal progress in both collective and individual contexts.
Social constructs, being mere narratives created and sustained by a society and culture, do hold a different level of reality for those who believe in and adhere to them compared to those who don't. The perception of reality is influenced by an individual's subjective beliefs, values, and the cultural context they are a part of.
For someone who believes in a particular social construct, it often shapes their worldview, behaviors, and interactions with others in profound ways. The belief in these constructs can feel very real and impactful to them because it's integrated into their consciousness and understanding of society and the world.
Conversely, for someone who does not believe in a specific social construct or challenges its validity, it may not hold the same level of reality. They might see it as arbitrary or question its legitimacy, and hence, its influence on their perception of reality might be diminished.
The existence and impact of social constructs are contingent upon collective agreement within a society or group. These virtual agreements function as a *shared reality* between those who subscribe to them, influencing their thoughts and actions within their personal and social framework. However, individuals or groups who reject or challenge these constructs might view them as unreal or perceive their influence differently.
The Fantasy of Shared Reality
Each person possesses a unique lens, a unique perception of reality, through which they interpret the world. Even within apparently shared cultures, belief systems, or ideologies, there still exists a vast spectrum of different individual interpretations and understandings of reality.
In the entangled complexity of human existence, the concept of a shared reality appears to be an illusion, a fantasy shared between two or more people and only between them. While it may hold a powerful sway over our lives, the very nature of reality itself suggests that a wholly shared understanding of reality among all humans is an unattainable fantasy.
The concept of shared reality can be defined as “a subjective perception about existence of phenomena in a common reality shared by everyone”. Or, in it's simples form, shared reality represents a belief that “what is real for me is also real for everyone else”.
In contrast, a personal reality may be defined as “a subjective perception about existence of phenomena in a personal reality that can not be shared by everyone”. Or, a belief that “what is true for me is only true for me”.
However, because "shared reality" is an individual perception, it simply can not be shared by everyone. Therefore, any perception of a shared reality must only exist in a metaphysical realm and can not have physical form nor objectively definable characteristics. Shared reality is a subjective experience, inherently shaped by our individual perspectives, beliefs, and perceptions.
Furthermore, a perception of shared reality may indeed occur between individuals. Parts of individual realities may overlap and have a shared perception of reality. However, this perception is merely parcial, because the object of this perception is merely one of the components of what constitutes a perception of personal reality.
For example, suppose two or more people witness simultaneously an existing physical phenomena. It does not mean that these personal realities or the shared reality they perceive exists in objective, physical reality. This because:
- both personal reality and shared reality are composed of subjective - metaphysical - perceptions of phenomena. No facts or phenomena are observable the same ways for everyone, unless they have a physical form.
- this moment of shared realities merely represents the overlapping components of each individual's personal reality, not their complete perception of reality.
- personal realities are composed of many other components that do not overlap with shared reality. An existence of a shared reality would imply absence of any other components of personal reality.
- even if a momentary overlap of realities could occur, this perception still does not exist in a physical form in the present moment.
The following diagram illustrates the unattainable relationship between personal reality and shared reality:
The complexity of Reality
Due to it's trivial complexity, how can the concept of reality be defined if it is a subjective perception?
One useful way to frame the concept of reality is to define it by the form of existence of the fact observed. There exists both physical and metaphysical realities:
- Physical reality, or objective reality, exists solely in an a physical form. It is “any fact or object that physically exists in the present moment of observation”. However, it is not required that everyone effectively observes the physical phenomena in the present moment, it is enough that it can be observed and does have a physical form in spacetime. (a particle exists if it is observable)
- Metaphysical reality, or subjective reality, exists solely in a metaphysical form. It can not be observed by everyone nor does it exist in a physical form in spacetime. Metaphysical facts can not be considered physical or objective reality. To be considered reality, physical phenomena must continue it's existence in the present moment and it's physical existence must be directly observable.
For example, a memory of a deceased person is a fact that does not remain in physical existence in the present moment, thus it cannot be considered physical reality. Instead, the person existed in the past, thus it is a memory of a past reality, and exists only in a metaphysical form. Similarly, social constructs, such as human rights or democracy are metaphysical narratives, they do not exist physically and thus can not be considered as objective reality.
Most, if not all, living organisms may be observed to physically exist in the present reality. Therefore, they can be considered as part of objective reality. In contrast, social constructs or memories do not exist in physical reality and are subjective perceptions of reality. For example, the concepts of religions, nations, or biological races, do not exist in an objective nor physical form, therefore none of them can be considered objective reality. This is not only because they have no physical form in the present moment, but also because they can be viewed in many different ways or even be unrecognized or rejected by each individual. Although these concepts may subjectively appear to exist and be real, they still exist exclusively in a metaphysical form.
Quantum physics of reality
While these proposed definitions may offer some useful clarity for everyday purposes, we must still face the dilemma of quantum physics and Schroeder's cat: physical facts can not be observed by everyone simultaneously in space-time, and therefore cannot be observed even when they exist physical realm for some or even most people. So, how do we define physical and objective facts if they cannot be observed by everyone?
Is it physical reality if an observer's biological sensory system captures a physical stimulus? If sight, olfact, hearing or immune system capture and process an internal or external stimulus? These processes involve motion physical forces, therefore they are also physically and objectively real phenomena. However, the outcomes of these processes are still subjective metaphysical perceptions and experiences.
It is a physical and objective reality that brain generates a perception in response to stimuli. But the output content of this perception is not physically real, only the stimulus and the generation of the perception by the brain are. A perception is physically and objectively generated, but the result of that process is in itself subjective and metaphysical perception, and does not have physical or observable form. In other words, if your senses detect an object, the object itself may exist in physical reality, but your perception of it does not. Our individual perception of the world is a metaphysical product of physical processes, and therefore does not itself have a physical form.
Therefore, it also does not matter whether the Schroeder's cat is observed to exist before, during or after the experience, because the cat exists in reality only when it is physically observable in the moment of the reflection of it's existence. At the precise moment of observation, the cat may or may not exist in a physical form, however the subjective perception of the observer still only exists in a metaphysical realm.
Viewing reality as only existing in the present moment of observation resolves the dualistic problem of Schrodinger's cat existing in multiple undefined states.