Some things are real -- they exist in the world and you can see, touch, or measure them. Other things are pretend -- they exist only in stories, games, or our imagination. But some things are harder to sort: Are numbers real? Are feelings real? Is a character in a book real? Learning to think carefully about what counts as "real" is one of the oldest and most interesting puzzles in philosophy.
Create three sorting piles: "Definitely Real," "Definitely Pretend," and "Hard to Decide." Give students cards with things like "the moon," "Santa Claus," "the number 7," "love," "unicorns," "gravity," and "Harry Potter." Discuss the "Hard to Decide" pile together.
Here is a question that sounds simple but is actually one of the biggest puzzles in all of philosophy: what does it mean for something to be real? At first, you might say, "That's easy -- real things are things I can see and touch." But think about it more carefully. Can you touch the wind? Can you see gravity? Can you hold a song? These things are all real, but you cannot grab any of them.
Now think about the other side. Is a character in your favorite book real? You might say "no, they are pretend." But you know what they look like, how they talk, what they care about. You might even feel like you know them. In a way, that character lives in the minds of everyone who has read the book. So what does "real" really mean?
Philosophers have been arguing about this for a very long time. Some say that only things you can measure and test in the physical world are truly real. Others say that ideas, numbers, and feelings are real too -- just a different kind of real. Think about the number 7. You cannot put it in a box, but 7 apples is always more than 6 apples, everywhere in the universe. That seems pretty real.
The point is not to find one final answer to "what is real?" The point is to practice thinking carefully about it. When you sort things into "real" and "pretend," you are doing something philosophers call ontology -- asking what kinds of things exist. And every time you find something that does not fit neatly into either pile, you have found something really interesting to think about. Those tricky cases are where the best thinking happens.
Topics in reflective domains aren't scored by quiz answers. Read, reflect, and mark when you've thought it through.