This is a question that has been debated over many centuries with philosophers heralding differing views. I will begin by attempting to define the word ‘real’.This word links very closely to existence and something that is ‘real’ is seen to be not imagined or artificial Overall my personal view is that humans are real as we believe that we are by observing those around us who treat this statement as a fact.In this post I will attempt to highlight the various interpretations of realism covering Platonic realism, scepticism and Descartes’ belief on realism. I agree the most with the views of Descartes and Humes yet I also believe that all of these philosophers have created logical explanations to this metaphysical question.

To begin with, I am going to  propose my own reasoning as to why I believe we are ‘real’. Another definition I came across was that the word ‘real’ means something is  ‘occuring in fact’. Now for something to be a ‘fact’ it must be a notion that is universally agreed upon and can't be denied. The question we are debating is often seen as a fact as reality is socially defined. Also, one cannot seriously deny the existence of our world and still live a human life. Therefore, individuals see around them that most people believe they are real, so they believe it. This is how we know we are real, we feed off the beliefs of others and social norms. I don't believe that it is possible for one to believe they are real in isolation as we are constantly surrounded by people and one is not usually alone for long periods of time where they ponder their existence.

Moving on, the first philosopher I will look at to counter my view is Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher. He believed that we are living in a world of forms in which us humans see superficial versions of everything. Using his cave analogy, us humans see shadows on the wall of our cave as reality and there is another universal world in which there is the state of perfect and everything in its true form. It is important to note that Plato believes that one's mind is separate from objects, meaning that the appearance of an object is independent to how one perceives the object. He also states that it is only philosophers who are able to understand that this world is fake and thus they should be the ones in charge of the country. I believe that there may be a world of forms yet Plato does not evidence, or disprove that there isn’t. Hence it is simpler to take one single external world, than two worlds.

 Furthermore, another philosopher, Descartes, created an alternative theory explaining why we are real. During the early sixteenth century he went through states of hyperbolic doubt, doubting his friends and family are real until he came to the conclusion that us humans and everyone around us are real due to the fact that we think. He believes that the ‘ideas’ one has hold ‘objective reality’ of objects which means that the idea of there being a chair in your room is just the chair existing inside your intellect. This resulted in the famous  phrase’ I think therefore I am ‘ which emphasises how our consciousness and ‘ideas’ are evidence that we exist. I believe that this theory is the most plausible as us humans think everyday and our minds are constantly thinking, even when we are asleep.Thus the fact that we are in control of our thoughts and there is no higher power or being controlling our thoughts means that we are real individuals. 

Finally, I also came across the ‘Brain in VAT’ theory held by Skeptics.This thought experiment states that we are all brains in a vat hooked up to a computer which creates simulations of the world around us. Whilst this may seem like a disturbing idea, it is part of Scepticism which believes in a series of conclusions such as one cannot know that the external world is real thus one cannot know that the world is real and that they are real.It is hard to say that we are objectively real thus the brain in vat thought experiment provides a counterexample to this. A sceptic philosopher David Humes agrees we are not able to know about the world for certain and whether it is real but he also believes that in order for us to function in society one should not care and it does not matter. I agree with Humes and his view links in with mine, that we are real as we have not stopped functioning normally and we have continued with our lives despite having doubts about our existence.

 I feel that one can never know for certain that the world and that we humans are real.We can suggest that because we are conscious and are in control of our thoughts, we know that we are real but we still don't know this for certain. Even if there was another world in which all the real forms of everything reside, like Plato states the premise does not closely follow on from the conclusion thus it is harder to state that we are not real.Most of society believes that we are real as they are all living human lives so as everyone else believes this, us humans must be real.

References:

https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-the-self-david-humes-bundle-theory/

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/skepticism-content-externalism/#SkepHypoSkepArgu