Reality is called the set of existing things, as well as the relationships that they maintain with each other. While this definition may sound like common sense, the truth is that it was a widely debated concept in the field of philosophy for a long time. Basically the difficulty always lay in the degree of importance given to the role of the senses in understanding the world.
The first philosophical proposals regarding the notion of reality can be found in classical Greece, as for example, in the work of Plato. According to this philosopher, what is observable by the senses is nothing more than the reflection of true reality, which consists of the universe of ideas. Thus, the present world must be interpreted as a representation that lacks its own support.
Different from the previous position, is the vision of Aristotle. He can be considered a fully realistic philosopher, insofar as he values the data that the senses give us as trustworthy. For him, an object of reality was understood by the notions of substance and accident, the first being the form that made it belong to a certain class, and the second, the change between each member of the species. These elements of analysis had great repercussion, reaching up to the Middle Ages with the theology that Saint Thomas developed.
Opposed to these conceptions are the later approaches of George Berkeley. This Irish philosopher took empiricism to its last consequences, coming to express that only perceptions of the world exist; In other words, we can say that there are perceptions of the world, but not that the world exists. David Hume was inspired by these statements when he criticized the notion of "I" and of cause and effect; thus, these interpretations would be alien to what is perceived.
Kant, for his part, tried to unite these two positions vis-à-vis reality and valued both the data perceived by the senses and the mental categories that apply to them. (such as cause and effect). In this sense, it constitutes a synthesis of both positions.
At present the problem of the real is less discussed, although there are still issues to be discussed. The treatment of these would be related to our capacity to know what exists and therefore, to the scope of science.
