Each person has his or her way of perceiving things depending on several factors including the culture in which a person is brought up and the type of education that an individual receives in the course of life. The combination of all the perceptions a person develops in life creates his or her view of the world and amounts to what reality is. Those perceptions can change over time. Therefore, the way of understanding reality is not static for everyone. In-depth interviews with many people will reveal that they are not entirely sure if the things they consider real are real. Out of the four theories explaining nature of reality and substance, the dualism approach appears to cater for most of these perceptions including the ones held by the
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Descartes' argument that as a thinking thing he is not identical with the body best explains the idea that there are two parallel aspects of reality in that the body and the mind are separate and the mind remains private however much others see the body ("Descartes Argument For Reality", 2018). For example, identical twins have similar physical features, but their minds are very different. Someone can observe those physical features master them and be able to identify when either of the twins or both are present but cannot tell what they have in their minds. Another explanation is the perceptions people have about what they see as being influenced by their consciousness and not their physical self. Descartes' statement that "I can doubt that my body exists. I cannot doubt that I exist as a thinking thing," brings out the difference between the mental and physical aspects of reality in that the mental is more real and superior to the physical and most likely directs the physical ("Descartes Argument For Reality", 2018). An excellent example to support Descartes' notion is the old saying that alludes beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Take the case of how different people will perceive a painting and more so one that does not explicitly represent a known object or shape. While some people will see beauty in that kind of a picture and even purchase it at very high rates, others will see completely nothing useful or beautiful in the paint. Now that difference in perception not only makes the mental aspect private but also explains why the physical components behave the way they do. In other words, the physical and mental states function in sync, but the mind takes a superior
Descartes' argument that as a thinking thing he is not identical with the body best explains the idea that there are two parallel aspects of reality in that the body and the mind are separate and the mind remains private however much others see the body ("Descartes Argument For Reality", 2018). For example, identical twins have similar physical features, but their minds are very different. Someone can observe those physical features master them and be able to identify when either of the twins or both are present but cannot tell what they have in their minds. Another explanation is the perceptions people have about what they see as being influenced by their consciousness and not their physical self. Descartes' statement that "I can doubt that my body exists. I cannot doubt that I exist as a thinking thing," brings out the difference between the mental and physical aspects of reality in that the mental is more real and superior to the physical and most likely directs the physical ("Descartes Argument For Reality", 2018). An excellent example to support Descartes' notion is the old saying that alludes beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Take the case of how different people will perceive a painting and more so one that does not explicitly represent a known object or shape. While some people will see beauty in that kind of a picture and even purchase it at very high rates, others will see completely nothing useful or beautiful in the paint. Now that difference in perception not only makes the mental aspect private but also explains why the physical components behave the way they do. In other words, the physical and mental states function in sync, but the mind takes a superior