werkelijkheid

Werkelijkheid is a Dutch noun meaning the state of being real or the actual world. It refers to what exists or occurs independent of interpretation and is used in both everyday language and philosophical discussion. The term encompasses the physical world as well as the social, mental, or cultural dimensions of existence that people treat as real. It is often contrasted with what is imagined, conjectured, or idealized.

In philosophy, werkelijkheid is central to debates about ontology (the nature of being) and epistemology (the limits of knowledge). Realism, idealism, and phenomenology address what counts as real and how it can be known. Dutch discussions often distinguish between objectieve werkelijkheid (the objective, mind-independent world) and waargenomen werkelijkheid (the world as it appears to a subject) or subjectieve werkelijkheid (one’s personal or constructed perspective). There is also the notion of maatschappelijke werkelijkheid, or social reality, which refers to aspects of reality produced by collective human action, such as institutions, norms, and language.

In science and everyday life, werkelijkheid serves as the baseline against which theories and hypotheses are tested and against which assertions about truth are judged. The concept thus covers both physical phenomena and the more abstract layers of meaning that people treat as real, reflecting how reality is understood, communicated, and investigated across disciplines.