ABSTRACT
The relation between Reality and Truth is problematized in philosophy in relation to science as well as the humanities. Metaphysics―the Theory of Reality―commands independence from epistemology―the Theory of Knowledge; what is (metaphysically) real is so irrespective of whether we know it or not, or how we claim to know it. But to afford a metaphysical conception or reality is to concede that ultimate reality is intelligible to the human mind or consciousness. The problem about ‘Reality and Truth’ is therefore that of formulating the idea of ‘metaphysical intelligibility.’ And the crux of this formulation is the requirement that the intelligence in question has the right measure of objective adequacy. It would then be a conception of an ideal intelligence (mind or consciousness) that is intrinsically capable of transcending all limitations or deficiencies immanent to any perspectival representation of reality. Indeed, the aspiration for an aperspectival conception of reality is central to the metaphysical project of relating Truth with Reality. However, the metaphysical project cannot be insensitive to the perspectival character of ‘lived reality,’ because the subjective reality of the life-world is part of the overall conception of reality. Since consciousness is part of the fabric of Reality, conscious existence is necessarily a ‘lived’ existence, which is lived subjectively given the nature of consciousness. A theory of Reality is therefore supposed to extend its scope to take both perspectival and aperspectival conceptions into its comprehensive fold.
