THE MYTH OF “SOCIETY- INDEPENDENT” REALITY AN EPISTEMIC PERSPECTIVE

GALIP VELIU

ABSTRACT

Reality is humanity’s perennial concern, and knowledge, considered as the only human
product that may contribute to comprehend reality, is defined differently in different
periods of the history of human thought. Most of the time it is thought that true
knowledge reflects reality as it is, positivistic conception of scientific knowledge is very
famous in this context. The paper discusses the problems of knowledge and reality from
epistemic perspective. It deals with the issues of, what is knowledge and what reality, are
they one and the same thing, or two different conceptions of the same author (man),
when dealing with his surroundings. Is there a reality which stands out there as the
object for our comprehension of it, or we are the major of what is real and what is not.
In the early years of 20th century, there is the recognition that science is not looking at
things in themselves, but at the structures of phenomena. In other words, science looks
at the way in which we perceive the world. The paper is trying to figure out the fact that,
man is the major of everything and, since every man belongs to a society, there is no
society- independent reality.