Question Hello. I would like to ask you a question about a hypothetical situation. One
person is inside a dark room for all eternity. Another person is inside a lighted
room for all eternity. Let's say these two people are the only sentient beings in
existence. Whose perception is the "objective" reality? Why?
Answer This is really a very involved question despite its simplicity.
The answer, however, depends upon whose or which perspective you are using the term "objective".
Darkroom guy: from his perspective, which is very real, reality is darkness.
Lightroom guy: from his perspective, reality is very bright.
For both, reality is a very small place and not very interesting.
For the questioner standing outside, reality is the larger world that contains the two rooms and their inhabitants.
This is a very simple version of Plato's Allegory of the Cave, which if I recall correctly, is somewhere around book six of the Republic.
The point of the scenario is to raise the issue of different degrees of reality and the role that one's experience plays in understanding varying levels of reality.
