© 2009, Vidyavanam Ashram, Bangalore.
Roy Varghese Palatty
IN SEARCH OF REALITY:
REHABILITATING THE QUESTION
OF BEING AND EXISTENCE
1. Introduction
Can we live on this earth without holding any vision of life? I donȂt
know! Sometimes we may, but for a short time. In the long run, it
demands to make certain dispositions and visions. Philosophy, in
simple terms, is nothing but an attempt to understand life and its
meaning, the world and our place in it, and, thus, to formulate
oneȂs own vision of life. Every vision requires a certain amount of
cognitive activity and critical reflection. Any cognitive enterprise,
whether it is science or humanities, is reflection on our experience
of the world that affects our conscious existence.
The aim of philosophical reflection is to form a rational theory
of reality that is to be distinguished from religious thought, which
is founded on faith-reflection and scientific knowledge, which is
based on empirical observation and experimentation. Here, rational
postulation based on experience of the empirical is the very
exigency of human cognition. Every science makes use of rational
postulation in making theories of the physical world and, thus,
abstraction (i.e., drawing away from the reality) becomes the
inevitable fate of theories. Although metaphysical inquiries need to
be grounded on the world experience, the meta (beyond) dimension
takes it to the realm of intellectual speculation and critical