1.c. Illusion and Reality

Learning Outcomes

During the course of this lesson, you will:

  • Learn about the limits of human cognition;
  • Investigate the link between suffering and illusion according to Buddhist philosophy;
  • Explore the question of whether there could be an ‘ultimate’ theory of reality.

1. Introduction

Prof. Dunne starts this lesson by using two optical illusions (the Kanizsa triangle and Checker shadow illusion) to show how mental models and projections can impact our perception of reality. This kind of experiments show us that our perception of the world is constrained, opening us up to the question of where exactly these constraints arise from, and how we can recognise them. Prof. Dunne ends this module by pointing out that Dharmakirti makes it clear that the recognition of these patterns and the cognitive separation of mind and world lies at the very basis of our obscured reality, since all of these are – in a way – illusions: based on structures, patterns, and concepts that have their basis in the separation of subject and object, mind and world.

2. Watch

3. Read

3a. Reality as a Mental Construct

Prof. Dunne starts this lesson by using two optical illusions (the Kanizsa triangle and Checker shadow illusion) to show how mental models and projections can impact our perception of reality. These kinds of optical experiments show us that our perception of the world is constrained by a certain perspective, opening us up to the question of where exactly these constraints arise from, and how we can recognise them. There might be some constraints that arise from the interaction with our senses that we are able to successfully recognise and identify – as in the case of optical illusions, which are a product of our visual system. But other constraints might arise directly from the nature of human mind, something that is internal to ones cognitive system. The latter could not be recognised without stepping out of human consciousness – an obviously impossible task!

In other words, through these experiments – an undoubted appearance of a triangle, or two squares of (apparently) different colours that are actually the same – we can recognise what is creating the constraints in the images is our visual system. We are therefore able to separate the constraints that are features of the human mind or cognition, and constraints that come from somewhere else, such as matter or our visual system. Through this process, we seem to reach out towards the possibility of an objective account of the world: a model that would be completely free of all human constraints (in which all constraints that come from the human mind would be absent, as we are trying to model reality itself).

3b. Is there an Ultimate Model of Reality?

However, a model that would be free of all human constraints would also be a model that no human can know. Therefore, Prof. Dunne emphasises that this kind of pure objectivity seems to be an impossibility, or at least, it would not be a model that human beings could do anything with.

But there is a second key issue: on the one side we can think about these kinds of constraints, but on the other, there is also another aspect. Namely, there are also constraints that are built into the human mind – constraints that human cognition could not recognise, constraints that we cannot escape, yet cannot detect either. These constraints are associated with the very process of conceptualisation, through which mental models are created.

This is also a main feature of Dharmakirti’s philosophy, which relates to the fact that we see patterns in the world and engage in actions in the world according to those patterns. Dharmakirti believes that such universal patterns are intrinsic to human cognition: that we cannot escape them, because they are an integral part to thought itself. Dharmakirti also argued that those patterns cannot be real, but that believing them to be universal and inherently existing is the main cause of our experience of suffering.

3c. The Illusion of Separation: Conceptuality, Suffering, and Wisdom

Dharmakirti argued that suffering arises from a state of confusion (ignorance), which can be counteracted by seeing things as they really are (with wisdom). Dharmakirti says that this ignorance comes about because we have great difficulty abandoning these built-in constraints, or even seeing the process of pattern recognition itself. Dharmakirti therefore said that ignorance is conceptuality – ignorance is seeing patterns in the world, and although useful for acting in the world, these conceptual patterns are an illusion, and obscure us from seeing the reality of our world.

Moreover, the very capacity to be able to create models is based upon self and world: there is a world, and there is a mind modelling that world. And again, Dharmakirti makes clear that this is also an illusion, because these models are structures based on the separation of subject and object, mind and world. Although these models of pattern recognition are built into our cognitive system (and it is impossible for us to make it go away), according to Dharmakirti, these models and the separation they presuppose do lie at the basis of all our ignorance and our deceptions by creating the illusion of what we take as our reality. So, at a second level of analysis, the capacity to create models is based upon the duality between self and world, which is modelled by the mind. According to Dharmakirti, this separation of self and world is the ultimate illusion that is inherently built into every human’s cognitive system.

All of this points to the fundamental question: what are the puzzles of quantum physics (such as non-locality and entanglement) telling us? Because clearly models are only helpful to understand the constraints on our cognition and our consciousness. So, the question is: are these puzzles the result of what is out there (matter), of human consciousness or the interaction between the two? This leads us straight into our next lesson on Quantum Physics, and Prof. Carlo Rovelli’s ideas of non-locality and entanglement – questions that, according to Prof. Dunne, also need to be turned towards the human mind itself.

Lecture Notes

We recommend reading the lecture notes before you start watching the content. This will help you to start contemplating some of the topics before you begin to watch the lecture.

Download Module 3 Lecture Notes