English Title

Abstract

Using a very wide panoramic view of the history of philosophy, the author examines the nuances of the concept of Reality. He specifies which connotation and for which philosophers the action of a certain entitity upon another, or production, is the necessary condition to establish what is Reality. Taking into account the dual German designation of Reality: Realität or Wirklichkeit, as partly differing concepts, he searches for the difference in authors, some of whom consider Reality as constituted by the mere "potency" or capacity (dynamis) while others think that Reality requires actual existence (by something that may be called production or efficaciousness). The exercise becomes difficult due to the fact that not only "Reality," but a score of other terms have different nuance meanings for different authors and in different languages. Special significance should be given to Marx‘s remark about neohegelians not realizing that they are not really talking about Reality, but rather "producing phrases" about the concept of Reality. Only things involving (physical) matter are real. For Lavelle, it is physics that studies Reality, while ontology studies Being. David Hume is the philosopher who most deeply differs from the general conception, stating that Reality is only "some compound of properties" with no need to use the concepts of essence and substance. "To sum up: the most traditional concept of Reality in the history of Philosophy is efficaciousness."