Extended Reality and Abstract Objects: A pragmalinguistic approach

Abstract

In this paper I carry out a grammatical clarification of the main concepts and expressions commonly used when dealing with “Augmented Reality”. I specifically focus on resolving ontological puzzles concerning the nature of entities produced by new technologies. I offer an analysis of the grammar of the terms “virtual”, “reality”, “extension” and “augmentation”, and I compare Augmented Reality with other problematic domains of language (universals, fiction, mathematics and social phenomena). I conclude that: (i) Augmented Reality is constructed via linguistic procedures; (ii) entities within the realm of Augmented Reality belong to the family of abstract entities; and (iii) Augmented Reality is the ever-evolving culmination of a process that humans started when we created language and have continued to develop through science, engineering, art and other instruments that empower us both to expand reality through the inclusion of new kinds of objects, and to extend our epistemic and existential access to reality.