Reality is a Map, Not the Territory

Human senses and cognition have evolved primarily to create a functional map of reality for survival and reproduction, rather than to comprehend the true nature of reality itself. While Descartes viewed the mind as a passive observer of phenomena, Kant argued that the mind plays an active role in shaping our perception of the world. He proposed a distinction between the 'world of things in themselves'—the reality independent of human perception—and the 'world of human experience,' where our senses and mental faculties organize and interpret phenomena. This active process means we can never fully access the intrinsic nature of reality; we are instead limited to our subjective human experience.