On 26 March at 6:00 PM, the VU Discussion Club invites you to another event dedicated to the question of reality. This meeting also marks the beginning of a new collaboration – the discussion series is being launched together with the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania.
What is reality? At first glance, it seems like something self-evident – the world around us, the objects we see and touch. But upon closer inspection, this question becomes far more complex. Physics shows that at a fundamental level, particles sometimes do not have definite properties until they are measured. Does this mean that observation, in some sense, participates in the creation of reality?
At the same time, the reality we experience inevitably passes through human perception. Neuroscience shows that the brain does not merely register signals from the environment but continuously constructs a model of the world based on predictions, memories, and emotions. If so, to what extent is the reality we experience a direct reflection of the world, and to what extent is it an interpretation created by the brain?
Philosophy raises this question even more radically. Does an objective reality exist independently of our perception? How can we be sure that our experience is not merely an illusion or interpretation? And ultimately, is reality something we discover, or something we partly construct ourselves?
If reality has a deeper, transcendent foundation, is the material world all that exists? Could it be that reality has not only a physical but also a spiritual dimension? A theologian might ask: Does the human capacity to seek meaning suggest that reality is more than just the sum of physical processes? Could our experiences – consciousness, morality, the sense of beauty or the sacred – be a window into a deeper structure of reality? And if a creator exists, is reality something given to us, or an invitation to understand and interpret it?
In this discussion, we invite you to explore the question of reality from different perspectives – physics, neuroscience, and philosophy – and to reflect together on what we can truly call real.
Participants:
Prof. Mikas Vengris – Faculty of Physics, Vilnius University
Prof. Rita Šerpytytė – Faculty of Philosophy, Vilnius University
Gintautas Narmontas – child and adolescent psychiatrist, psychotherapist
Assoc. Prof. Benas Ulevičius – Faculty of Catholic Theology, Vytautas Magnus University
The event will take place in the Statehood Space (2nd floor) of the National Library.