Abstract This article explores (the concept of) ‘reality’ from the vantage point of an integrational epistemology ( Harris, 2009a ). It considers ontological and epistemological questions pertinent to evolutionary biology, history and linguistics and argues that an integrational account of sign-making, which places the individual’s experience at its center, shows how deeply these disciplines (and others) rely on a misconceived view of how real people relate to the world ‘as it is’ (or ‘was’). What is ‘real’ cannot hence be established ‘objectively’, assuming a reocentric model of the world, nor should it be conceived of as discursively constructed, but rather as the result of contextualization by individuals.