Czym jest to, co istnieje rzeczywiście? O znaczeniu słowa „rzeczywistość” i wynikających stąd konsekwencjach dla rozstrzygnięć metafizycznych Adwaita-Wedanty

Abstract

It may be said that metaphysics began as a consequence of the unsatisfactoriness of the first impression of things. At first phenomena are treated as real, but after some scrutiny the question arises whether the first impression of things reveals their ultimate nature. As a consequence, the division is made between that which is ultimate (self-subsistent reality) and that which is transient and only appears as real. The usual way of working out this dilemma is to prove the existence of the former as based on the latter. In the philosophy of Advaita Vedānta which is most distinctively represented by Śankara this typical scheme is changed. The fundamental question is posited as „what is real‟, as opposed to „what exists‟. There is no question of proving the existence of things. After all, something that exists may not be real, and that which does not exist, may be. The ultimate axis, around which all the speculation revolves, is finding being, as opposed to mere existents. There are no attempts to prove the existence of the ultimate reality (Brahman), as this is accepted a priori; the speculation focuses on the nature of reality and its relation with the word of phenomena. The objective of the paper is to show how closely metaphysical ideas of Advaita Vedānta are connected with the accepted definition of the term „reality‟. On the one hand, the meaning of the term is connected with the theory of levels of reality, which divides all the objects according to their degree of realness. On the other, the term „reality‟ means Brahman – one and constant principle that is the basis of everything.