Simulated And Virtual Realities

1 Introduction

Karen Carr

1.1 Virtual reality: tool or concept?

One of the most important aspects of human thought has been the quest to distinguish between external events, such as changes in our environment, and internal events, such as perceptions. This is the distinction between the objective and the subjective, the distinction which would allow us to establish the certainty of knowledge by removing the mediation of human ways of thinking and perceiving. Philosophers have argued about whether it is ever possible to have objective, certain knowledge, and if so, how it is obtained.¹ Empirical scientists believe that we can gain certain knowledge from methodical observations; that we can, through our perceptions, know reality. This is particularly ...