Editing Consensus reality

{{short description|Notion of reality based on consensus view}}
'''Consensus reality''' refers to the generally agreed-upon version of [[reality]] within a community or [[society]], shaped by shared [[experiences]] and [[understandings]].<ref>Bernardo Kastrup, ''Dreamed Up Reality: Diving into the Mind to Uncover the Astonishing Hidden Tale of Nature'', John Hunt Publishing, 2011, p. 105.</ref> This understanding arises from the inherent differences in individual perspectives or [[subjectivity|subjectivities]] relating to [[knowledge]] or [[ontology]], leading to uncertainties about what is real. While various viewpoints exist, people strive to establish a [[Consensus decision-making|consensus]], serving as a [[Pragmatism|pragmatic]] guide for [[social norms]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things: What Categories Reveal About the Mind |last=Lakoff |first=George |author-link=George Lakoff |year=1987 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=0-226-46804-6 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/womenfiredangero00lako_0/page/259 259] |quote=In summary, Putnam has shown that existing formal versions of objectivist ''epistemology'' are inconsistent; there can be no objectively correct ''description'' of reality from a God's eye point of view. This does not, of course, mean that there is no objective reality—only that we have no ''privileged access'' to it from an external viewpoint. |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/womenfiredangero00lako_0/page/259 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Reason, Truth, and History |last=Putnam |first=Hilary |author-link=Hilary Putnam |year=1981 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge}}</ref> The term carries both positive and negative connotations, as it is viewed critically by [[Anti-realism|anti-realist]] theorists but recognized for its practical benefits in fostering shared beliefs. Consensus reality differs from consensual reality, with the former representing mutual agreement about what is true. Artists and thinkers have challenged consensus reality, aiming to disrupt established norms and question the authenticity of the world's reality.<ref>{{cite book |editor=Stork, David G. |title=Hal's Legacy: 2001's Computer as Dream and Reality |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=0-262-69211-2 |page=201 |year=1998}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=Lois |last=Rostow Kuznets |title=When Toys Come Alive: Narratives of Animation, Metamorphosis, and Development |publisher=Yale University Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-300-05645-1 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/whentoyscomealiv00kuzn/page/228 228, note 14] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/whentoyscomealiv00kuzn/page/228 }}</ref>

Children have sometimes been described or viewed as "inexperience[d] with consensus reality," though are described as such with the expectation that their perspective will progressively form closer to the consensus reality of their society as they age.

==General discussion==
In considering the nature of reality, two broad approaches exist: the [[philosophical realism|realist]] approach, in which there is a single, [[objectivity (philosophy)|objective]], overall reality believed to exist irrespective of the [[philosophy of perception|perceptions]] of any given individual, and the [[idealism|idealistic]] approach, in which it is considered that an individual can verify nothing except their own ''[[experience]]'' of the world, and can never directly know the truth of the world independent of that.

[[Peter L. Berger|Berger]] and [[Thomas Luckmann|Luckmann]] argue that "reality is [[socially constructed reality|socially constructed]] and that the [[sociology of knowledge]] must analyze the process in which this occurs". Rather than being a purely philosophical topic, the question of reality includes, for them, the sociological study of consensus reality.<ref>{{cite book |last1= Berger|first1= Peter|last2= Luckmann|first2= Thomas|date= 1991|orig-date= 1966|title= The Social Construction of Reality|publisher= Penguin Books|chapter= Introduction}}</ref>

Consider this example: consensus reality for people who follow a particular [[Theocentricism|theocentric]] religion is different from consensus reality for those who follow another theocentric religion, or from those that eschew theocentric religions in favor of [[science]] alone, for explaining life and the [[universe]].

In societies where theocentric religions are dominant, the religious understanding of existence would be the consensus reality. In a predominantly [[secular]] society, where the consensus reality is grounded in science alone, the religious worldview would be the non-consensus (or alternative) reality.

In this way, different individuals and communities have fundamentally different [[world view]]s,<ref name="ken_wilber_1">According to philosopher [[Ken Wilber]]. See Ken Wilber's book ''A Brief History of Everything''.</ref> with fundamentally different comprehensions of the world around them, and of the constructs within which they live. Thus, a society that is, for example, completely secular and one which believes every eventuality to be subject to metaphysical influence will have very different consensus realities, and many of their beliefs on broad issues such as [[science]], [[slavery]], and [[human sacrifice]] may differ in direct consequence of the differences in the perceived nature of the world they live in.

Charles Tart in his book "The Awakening" proposed an alternative term - "''conditioned reality'' " (''conditioned'' or ''conditional reality''), pointing out the inaccuracy of the term "consensus reality", since no one asks an individual for consent whether he wants to live in a "generally accepted reality", because he is accustomed to it through “ conditioning ” - the development of conditioned reflexes in the process of education and socialization.<ref>''Kiselyov A.'' The originality of the language of Arnold Mindell. Preface by the translator. // ''Mindell A.'' The power of silence: How symptoms enrich life. - M.: AST, 2004. - <nowiki>ISBN 5-17-021066-3</nowiki> .</ref>

==In science and philosophy==
{{See also|Scientific consensus}}

===Idealists===
Some [[idealists]] ([[subjective idealism|subjective idealists]]) hold the view that there isn't one particular way things are, but rather that each person's [[private language argument | personal reality]] is unique. Such idealists have the [[world view]] which says that we each create our own reality, and while most people may be in general agreement (consensus) about what reality is like, they might live in a different (or nonconsensus) reality.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LkuVBgAAQBAJ&q=subjective+idealism&pg=PA14|title=Kantian Reason and Hegelian Spirit: The Idealistic Logic of Modern Theology|last=Dorrien|first=Gary|date=2015-03-16|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|isbn=9781119016540|language=en}}</ref>

===Materialists===
[[Materialists]] may not accept the idea of there being different possible realities for different people, rather than different beliefs about one [[reality]]. So for them only the first usage of the term reality would make sense. To them, someone believing otherwise, where the facts have been properly established, might be considered [[delusion]]al.{{Citation needed|date=November 2011}}

==Social consequences==

===Views on the term===
The [[connotation]] of the term "consensus reality" is usually disparaging: it is usually employed by [[idealist]], [[surrealist]] and other [[anti-realist]] [[theorist]]s opposing or hostile to this "reality," with the implication that this consensus reality is, to a greater or lesser extent, created by those who experience it. (The phrase "consensus reality" may be used more loosely to refer to any generally accepted set of beliefs.) However, there are those who use the term approvingly for the practical benefits of all agreeing on a common set of assumptions or experiences.<ref>{{cite web|author=Zane Crawford |title=ideotrope: consensus reality |url=https://ideotrope.org/index.pl?node_id=659 |access-date=2007-06-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928103508/https://ideotrope.org/index.pl?node_id=659 |archive-date=September 28, 2007 }}</ref>

===Consensus vs. consensual reality===
Consensus reality is related to, but distinct from, consensual reality. The difference between these terms is that whereas consensus reality describes a state of mutual agreement about what is true (consensus is a noun), consensual reality describes a type of agreement about what is true (consensual is an adjective). In other words, reality may also be non-consensual, as when one person's preferred version of reality conflicts with another person's preferred version of reality. Consensual reality is relevant to understanding a variety of social phenomena, such as deception. <ref>{{Cite book|url=https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/encyclopedia-of-deception/n78.xml|title=Encyclopedia of Deception|last=Levine|first=Timothy|date=2015|publisher=Sage|isbn=978-1452258775|language=en}}</ref>

===Social aspects===
Artists, writers, and theorists have attempted to oppose or undermine consensus reality while others have declared that they are "ignoring" it.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=Aaron |title=Angel in America: Holcombe Waller's seraphic voice provides comfort during ''Troubled Times'' |newspaper=[[Just Out]] (Portland, Oregon) |volume=22 |issue=20 |page=37 |date=August 19, 2005 |url=http://www.holcombewaller.com/PressContent/JustOut0805.jpg |access-date=June 22, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070624181129/http://www.holcombewaller.com/PressContent/JustOut0805.jpg |archive-date=June 24, 2007 |url-status=dead }}</ref> For example, [[Salvador Dalí]] intended by his [[paranoiac-critical method]]<ref>{{cite web |title=DALI.UFFS.NET - Salvador Dali - Odjinud ... |url=http://dali.uffs.net/ascii/napsali/1990eyer.html |access-date=2007-06-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070407043059/http://dali.uffs.net/ascii/napsali/1990eyer.html |archive-date=2007-04-07 }}</ref> to "systematize confusion thanks to a paranoia and active process of thought and so assist in discrediting completely the world of reality".<ref>{{cite web |author=Bryan M. Papciak |title="Thank God I'm an atheist: "The surrealistic cinema of Luis Bunuel |url=http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/papciak.html |access-date=2007-06-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070625161444/http://www.regent.edu/acad/schcom/rojc/papciak.html |archive-date=2007-06-25 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{Columnslist|colwidth=20em|
* [[Brute fact]]
* [[Common knowledge]]
* [[Common misconception]]
* [[Consensus theory of truth]]
* [[Derealization]]
* [[Hyperreality]]
* [[Intersubjectivity]]
* [[Map-territory relation]] 
* [[Naïve physics]]
* [[Pragmatism]]
* [[Reality tunnel]]
* [[Reality-based community]]
* [[Red pill and blue pill]]
* [[Simulated reality]]
* [[Social construction]]
* [[Social constructionism]]
* [[Tinkerbell effect]]
* [[Truthiness]]
* [[Wikiality]]
}}

==References==
{{reflist|colwidth=30em}}

==External links==
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{{Epistemology|state=expanded}}
{{Conformity}}

[[Category:Consensus reality| ]]
[[Category:Belief]]
[[Category:Community building]]
[[Category:Reality]]
[[Category:Perception]]
[[Category:Social constructionism]]
[[Category:Concepts in epistemology]]