phaneron

English

Etymology

Coined by Charles Sanders Peirce in 1905 based on Ancient Greek φανερόν n (phanerón, “that which is visible”), substantivized from the adjective φανερός (phanerós, “visible, apparent, manifest”).

Noun

phaneron (plural phanerons or phanera)

1. (philosophy) That which is perceived by the mind, regardless of whether it corresponds to reality.
   • 2013, Vsauce, "Is Anything Real?", 7:39–7:54:

     This mattered so much to Charles Sanders Pierce that he drew a line between reality — the way the universe truly is — and what he called "the phaneron" — the world as filtered through our senses and bodies, the only information we can get.