Consensus reality

Sponsor with the world's largest charity for orphans

Consensus reality is the set or totality of what is believed to be real, the "reality" accepted by the majority of individuals (or subset of individuals) in a given place or at a given time. The connotation of "consensus reality" is, with few exceptions, disparaging: it is usually employed by idealist, surrealist and other anti-realist theorists with the implication that this consensus reality is, to a greater or lesser extent, created by those who experience it. (The phrase "consensus reality" may be used more loosely to refer to any generally accepted set of beliefs.)

The theory of reality enforcement holds that belief in consensus reality (the "reality" of "reality enforcement" is used in this sense) -- on which the apparent persistence of consensus reality's existence may depend -- is "enforced" or promoted through various means including sanctions applied against those who challenge it.

The theory of reality enforcement is opposed by those who believers in the theory call "reality enforcers." (It should be noted Alan C. Walter uses the phrase "reality enforcers" in a highly idiosyncratic way having nothing to do with the theory of reality enforcement.) The so-called "reality enforcers" appeal to an objectivist theory of reality, rejecting multiple subjective realities which could diverge considerably; this makes nonsensical the theory of "reality enforcement".

Believers in reality enforcement are typically sympathetic to anti-psychiatry and would describe involuntary commitment as often being a form of reality enforcement (as in the course of treatment the patient may be encouraged to abandon beliefs the psychiatrist considers to be delusions and thus to have his beliefs come into line with consenus reality). Mental health codes in some United States states even specify that a diminished "capacity to recognize reality" is part of the standard for mental illness, something to which believers in the theory of reality enforcement would obviously object.

Consensus reality and reality enforcement in fiction:

Various dystopian novels, such as Nineteen Eighty-Four, feature a highly controlled consensus reality.
The works of Philip K. Dick often involve shifts in or deviations from consensus reality
The works of Robert Anton Wilson usually discuss consensus reality
The film The Matrix shows something similar to reality enforcement; Agent Smith could be called a "reality enforcer."
Reality Enforcement Commission is a comic by Neilson Nguyen, with artwork by Nora Summers.
The RPG deals with characters that attempt to change the consensus reality

Consensus reality may be related to theories of false consciousness.