tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post2566484501097712327..comments2024-03-24T20:50:06.083-04:00Comments on Lessons in Psychology: Freedom, Liberation, and Reaction: What is Reality? Wynn Schwartz, Ph.D.http://www.blogger.com/profile/03689137521075228568noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-88184677735922735182014-11-16T12:01:53.098-05:002014-11-16T12:01:53.098-05:00I've rewritten it this way:
A person's Re...I've rewritten it this way:<br /><br />A person's Real World is the full set of empirical or historical elements (OPESAs) that inform that person's Behavior Potential. This includes possible elements they have or will consider, imagine, discover or invent. Considering or imagining is a form of behavior that might not result in discovery or invention. Ideas often don't pan out, but, at the very least, have the status of an OPESA considered. Considering and imagining, realistic or not, has a prominent place in the behavior of people. Still, since action is key to meaning, competence and effectiveness are fundamental in evaluating a person's knowledge. This is what we mean by reality testing. Knowledge is vindicated by the action it facilitates. Knowledge of the world requires that we look around, think, and are able to act."<br /><br />How does that work?Wynn Schwartz, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03689137521075228568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-68918914760025396132014-11-15T17:35:08.619-05:002014-11-15T17:35:08.619-05:00"The Real World is the full set of empirical,..."The Real World is the full set of empirical, historical particulars."<br /><br />Not sure about this. What's real to me is what I'm prepared to act on. The complete set of things I'm prepared to act on is my real world. It includes lots of things besides empirical, historical particulars; and it does not include a lot of things that are empirical, historical particulars. <br /><br />Or are you saying something else about a Real World shared by everyone? or something like that?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240907387224016346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-24390417577569478952014-11-02T11:43:21.773-05:002014-11-02T11:43:21.773-05:00Not actually. Not actually. Wynn Schwartz, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03689137521075228568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-73024906844479348032014-11-02T11:34:37.944-05:002014-11-02T11:34:37.944-05:00Good point. Would there be any value in patrolling...Good point. Would there be any value in patrolling the whole post for such uses of actual?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240907387224016346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-30677368008567155392014-11-02T11:27:29.896-05:002014-11-02T11:27:29.896-05:00Actually, I'm not sure either. I've delete...Actually, I'm not sure either. I've deleted "actually". After all, how is actually acting different from acting?Wynn Schwartz, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03689137521075228568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-26096086422638075232014-11-02T11:19:12.743-05:002014-11-02T11:19:12.743-05:00"...the Real World refers to those distinctio..."...the Real World refers to those distinctions that I am in a position to actually act on." This still seems not quite right. If I take it I can catch a unicorn, then I can actually act on that. I can get an unicorn catching outfit, decide what (if any) animal to ride (horses might turn traitor, after all), the best snare, and so on. Can I catch a unicorn? No. I cannot carry that off. <br /><br />This is the distinction--acting on it, and carrying it off. I'm still not sure where "actual" fits into this.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240907387224016346noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-55464224885684680562014-11-02T10:01:13.444-05:002014-11-02T10:01:13.444-05:00Thanks Clarke, I agree, and I've modified the ...Thanks Clarke, I agree, and I've modified the statement about the convention accordingly, I think.Wynn Schwartz, Ph.D.https://www.blogger.com/profile/03689137521075228568noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8547886101764404344.post-70650151333049676662014-11-02T09:20:14.396-05:002014-11-02T09:20:14.396-05:00"The convention in Descriptive psychology is ..."The convention in Descriptive psychology is that Reality refers to the possible, whereas the Real World consists of the actual."<br /><br />I'm having some trouble with this statement. Everything I'm prepared to act on is what's real to me. The total collection of things I'm prepared to act on is my real world (or just "world"). I find it hard to say my 5th Amendment right to remain silent is "actual", but it is something I'm prepared to act on, so it is "real"; thus, I'm not sure what distinction you are making (what you are acting on, what is real to you) when you use the word "actual".<br /><br />I'd rather take reality as a boundary condition on possible behaviors. I can take it that I can fly using wings about the size of a sheet of letter paper (flying is real for me), but the boundary condition on my flight is quite clear: buoyant force equals the weight of the fluid displaced. That is, if I weigh about 100 kg, and air weighs about 1 kg per cubic meter, then 100 cubic meters of air must pass over my letter-sized wings for me to fly. If I jump off a building, I'm done for--can't reach the right volume of air, no matter what; but if I go out in a hurricane, I probably can reach the right volume of air. <br /><br />So, flying with letter-size wings is sometimes possible and sometimes not. Reality sets a certain kind of condition for success. Not the social conditions, the real world conditions, which are about what I take to be the case. Rather, the conditions that are unaffected by what I take to be the case.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02240907387224016346noreply@blogger.com