realism (philosophy)

realism (philosophy)
Name	Realism (philosophy)
Region	Western philosophy
Era	Ancient to contemporary
Notable people	Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, David Hume, Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, John Stuart Mill, Karl Marx, William James, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, W. V. O. Quine, Willard Van Orman Quine, Hilary Putnam, Saul Kripke, Donald Davidson, Michael Dummett, David Lewis, J. L. Austin, Hilary Kornblith, Bernard Williams, Iris Murdoch, Cornelius Castoriadis, Alain Badiou, Jacques Derrida, Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre

realism (philosophy) Realism in philosophy asserts that certain categories of entities, structures, or truths exist independently of particular thinkers, communities, or practices. It contrasts with positions that deny mind-independent existence, and it organizes debates about ontology, epistemology, and semantics across traditions from antiquity to contemporary analytic and continental thought. Realist commitments appear in metaphysics, science, ethics, and other domains, generating a spectrum of views and controversies.

Overview and Definitions

Philosophical realism broadly holds that aspects of reality are not reducible to the beliefs or linguistic practices of agents such as those discussed by Plato, Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, John Locke, and David Hume. Varieties of realism frame debates addressed by figures like Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, Ludwig Wittgenstein, and W. V. O. Quine. Definitions often hinge on issues raised by Isaac Newton's natural philosophy, Charles Darwin's biology, and the scientific programmes associated with Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr. Key distinctions include metaphysical realism, epistemic realism, semantic realism, and methodological realism, each debated by thinkers such as Hilary Putnam, Saul Kripke, and David Lewis.

Historical Development

Classical realism appears in the works of Plato and Aristotle, while medieval scholastic realism was shaped by Augustine of Hippo, Boethius, Thomas Aquinas, and debates involving Peter Abelard and William of Ockham. Early modern debates feature contributions from René Descartes, Baruch Spinoza, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, John Locke, and George Berkeley, with the latter two framing the empiricist challenges engaged by David Hume and responded to by Immanuel Kant. Nineteenth-century developments connected realist themes to the philosophies of Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Karl Marx, John Stuart Mill, and natural scientists like Charles Darwin. Twentieth-century analytic realism was advanced by Bertrand Russell, G. E. Moore, W. V. O. Quine, and Hilary Putnam, while continental currents engaged realist issues in the work of Martin Heidegger, Jean-Paul Sartre, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Jacques Derrida, and Alain Badiou.

Varieties of Realism

Metaphysical realism, defended by figures such as Aristotle, G. E. Moore, and David Lewis, maintains that entities posited by ontology—universals, particulars, causation—exist independently of minds. Scientific realism, championed by Isaac Newton's successors and defended by Hilary Putnam, Bas van Fraassen (as critic), and Nancy Cartwright, claims that successful theories reveal mind-independent aspects of nature as debated in the contexts of Michael Faraday, James Clerk Maxwell, and Albert Einstein. Moral realism, associated with Thomas Aquinas, David Hume (as skeptic), G. E. Moore (as critic), and contemporary proponents like Bernard Williams and Iris Murdoch, holds that moral facts exist independently of attitudes. Mathematical realism (Platonism) finds advocates in Plato, Kurt Gödel, and Roger Penrose, while nominalist and fictionalist alternatives arise in the works of William of Ockham and modern proponents such as Hartry Field. Modal realism, closely identified with David Lewis, treats possible worlds as concrete entities. Semantic realism concerns truth conditions and the correspondence theory as debated by Alfred Tarski, Donald Davidson, and Michael Dummett.

Arguments and Criticisms

Classic arguments for realism include inference to the best explanation as used by Charles Darwin in evolutionary theory and by Pierre-Simon Laplace in astronomy, the success-to-truth argument invoked by Hilary Putnam and Richard Boyd, and ontological parsimony debates stemming from William of Ockham. Criticisms arise from epistemological challenges posed by George Berkeley, the underdetermination of theory by data emphasized by Pierre Duhem and Willard Quine, the pessimistic meta-induction as articulated in responses to Thomas Kuhn's historiography, and semantic and antirealist programs advocated by Michael Dummett and Nelson Goodman. Continental critiques draw on hermeneutic and post-structuralist resources from Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Foucault, questioning metaphysical and representational assumptions.

Realism in Related Disciplines

In the philosophy of science realism shapes interpretation of practices in laboratories exemplified by Louis Pasteur, Marie Curie, Max Planck, and Richard Feynman, and it informs debates in the philosophy of mind engaged by John Searle, Daniel Dennett, and Patricia Churchland. Ethical realism intersects with jurisprudence and public policy debates involving institutions such as the United Nations and cases before International Court of Justice when moral facts are invoked. Mathematical realism influences work in logics by Kurt Gödel, Alonzo Church, and Alan Turing, and informs computational approaches tied to John von Neumann and Claude Shannon. In social theory, realist positions interact with research by Max Weber, Émile Durkheim, Pierre Bourdieu, and Anthony Giddens.

Contemporary Debates and Applications

Contemporary realism debates involve participants like Hilary Putnam, Bas van Fraassen, Saul Kripke, Timothy Williamson, Paul Boghossian, Judith Butler (critique intersections), and Bruno Latour (actor-network critiques). Applications appear in philosophy of science concerning climate modeling and epidemiology as practiced by scientists at organizations like World Health Organization and researchers in institutions such as Max Planck Society and National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Ongoing disputes address scientific pluralism, realism about theoretical entities such as quarks in particle physics associated with CERN, realism in cognitive science related to MIT and Stanford University research programs, and normative realism in public ethics debates in forums connected to European Court of Human Rights and national legislatures. The future of realism engages metaphysical, semantic, and pragmatic resources across interdisciplinary sites from the analytic academy to continental arenas.

Category:Philosophy