The comedian Lily Tomlin said that reality is a crutch for people who can't handle drugs. Some
philosophers also have a low opinion ofreality, seeing it as a mere construction ofpeople's minds or
social contexts. In contrast, this chapter argues that the things investigated by science exist
independently ofour minds, construed as brains. Using perception and inference, brains can develop
objective knowledge of reality, including knowledge relevant to assessing the meaning of life