Countries

People can debate whether a country is real. However, debating whether a being is real, while some have tried, is more problematic. As a Critical Realist, I would suggest that humanity is real. Roy Bhaskar says that we are all connected through co-presence or a cosmic envelope. On the other hand, countries come and go. Some countries are not even recognized as legal entities by other countries. (For instance, China does not recognize Taiwan as being separate from Mainland China.) Humanity is ontological. Countries are epistemological (perceptive).