Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Terminology Tuesday: Realism

Realism: The belief that there are real entities that exist independently of human knowers. There are many types of realism, depending on the scope of the theory and the contrasting antirealist position. [...] Realism (and its rival antirealism) can also be restricted to particular regions. Thus one can be a realist (or antirealist) about unobservable scientific entities such as quarks or abstract logical entities such as sets and numbers.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 99.

2 comments :

Ex N1hilo said...

But does realism really exist? And, if so, where is it?

bossmanham said...

Realists and antirealists alike would probably say that the two are just conventions developed by people to describe how certain philosophies are to be thought of. Should scientific discoveries be thought of as actually how things are, or as useful fictions that help us to construct useful theories, for instance?

In other words, in this case, there have to be minds that grasp either the reality or non-reality of concepts for realism or anti-realism itself to exist as a philosophy.

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