Contemporary Realisms and Anti-realisms
Anti-Realism:
Metaphysical: (Richard Rorty)
There is no world apart from our experience. The idea of a noumenal world or a world of things in themselves apart from experience is nonsensical or is not a possibility we are capable of representing,
Epistemological: (Kant, Late Putnam)
We cannot have knowledge of reality as it exists independently of our point of
view. Reality exists independent of us, but we can’t know it as it really is.
Pragmatism: Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), William James (1842-1910), John Dewey (1859-1952)
Truth (and meaning) are always relative to a particular practical context, to a set of practices and values. Truth is what works (in that particular practical context).
Constructive Empiricism: (Bas van Fraassen). Science does not describe reality as it is apart from us and our perceptions, nor is that its job. Its job is to describe the common appearances that normal average size objects have to normal human observers. There is a common perceptual world shared by all normal humans. Science aims at systematically describing these and constructing our theoretical understandings of the world from this base.
Internal Realism: (Peirce, Late Hilary Putnam)
Truth exists as an ideal towards which the scientific community progresses. Truth is not a relationship between our scientific activity and something else, but is what the ideal scientific community would progress towards under ideal scientific conditions. The basic unit of connection with the world is no longer the particular theory or paradigm, but the entire history of the scientific community.
Intuitive Realism: (Thomas Nagel)
There is an external world that outruns our ability to represent it in language. While a full expression of truth is impossible in language or scientific theory, there is a bedrock of non-linguistic intuitions that form a common sense to which all of our theories must conform.
Scientific Realism: (early Hilary Putnam, Paul and Patricia Churchland)
We can know reality as it exists apart from experience and current scientific theory comes close to doing so, forming a core that will be retained in all subsequent theories.
Contemporary Realisms and Anti-realisms
Categorized as Epistemological or Metaphysical Realisms
Anti-Realisms:
Metaphysical: (Richard Rorty) MAR
There is no world apart from our experience. The idea of a noumenal world or a world of things in themselves apart from experience is nonsensical or is not a possibility we are capable of representing,
Epistemological: (Kant, Late Putnam) EAR
We cannot have knowledge of reality as it exists independently of our point of
view. Reality exists independent of us, but we can’t know it as it really is.
MAR and EAR
Relativism: (Richard Rorty)
MR (?) and EAR
Pragmatism:. Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914), William James (1842-1910), John Dewey (1859-1952)
Truth (and meaning) are always relative to a particular practical context, to a set of practices and values. Truth is what works (in that particular practical context).
MR and ER(*)
Constructive Empiricism: (Bas van Fraassen). Science does not describe reality as it is apart from us and our perceptions, nor is that its job. Its job is to describe the common appearances that normal average size objects have to normal human observers. There is a common perceptual world shared by all normal humans. Science aims at systematically describing these and constructing our theoretical understandings of the world from this base.
MR and ER(*)
Internal Realism: (Peirce, Late Hilary Putnam)
Truth exists as an ideal towards which the scientific community progresses. Truth is not a relationship between our scientific activity and something else, but is what the ideal scientific community would progress towards under ideal scientific conditions. The basic unit of connection with the world is no longer the particular theory or paradigm, but the entire history of the scientific community.
MR and EAR
Intuitive Realism: (Thomas Nagel)
There is an external world that outruns our ability to represent it in language. While a full expression of truth is impossible in language or scientific theory, there is a bedrock of non-linguistic intuitions that form a common sense to which all of our theories must conform.
MR and ER
Scientific Realism: (early Hilary Putnam, Paul and Patricia Churchland)
We can know reality as it exists apart from experience and current scientific theory comes close to doing so, forming a core that will be retained in all subsequent theories.
© 2006 David Banach
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License.
