In What Reality Camp(s) Are You?

[Dr Alain L Fymat]

Over the history of natural philosophy and science, reality research has followed opposite poles: pessimistic/optimistic, pragmatist/realist.

The pessimist (including the natural philosopher Immanuel Kant) believes that man is fated to know - either directly or through conceptualization - merely the world’s appearances, and of these appearances only that part which is of human origin. By contrast, the optimist argues that since humans are part of nature, nothing prevents us from experiencing or conceptualizing reality itself.

On the other hand, the pragmatist (including the distinguished physicist and astronomer Sir James Jeans) believes only in facts and mathematics and refuses in principle to speculate concerning deep reality. Lastly, the realist (including Einstein) believes that the major purpose of science is to go beyond both fact and theory to the reality underneath. Figuratively, the pragmatist treats his theory like a cookbook of mere recipes for ordering phenomena whereas the realist sees it as a guidebook to what’s really out there in the world.

Most theoretical physicists are complex mixtures of pragmatist and realist, at once both optimistic and pessimistic about their chances for making solid contact with deep reality. Quantum theory has been universally successful in describing phenomena at all levels accessible to experiment. It’s a perfect cookbook. However, this comprehensive practical success has been accompanied by an unprecedented disagreement as to what quantum theory actually means, and a corresponding confusion as to what sort of reality supports the phenomenal world. So, in what reality camps do you find yourself?