Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome | |||
| |||
Realism, philosophy: realism is a collective term for theories which, in principle, believe that it is possible for us to acquire knowledge about objects of the external world that is independent from us as perceptual subjects. A strong realism typically represents the thesis that it would make sense to even create hypotheses about basically unknowable objects. See also metaphysical realism, internal realism, universal realism, constructivism._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
Author | Concept | Summary/Quotes | Sources |
---|---|---|---|
Hartry Field on Realism - Dictionary of Arguments
I 249ff Truth/Realism/Field: does not want to claim truth as a metaphorical concept about the theory but instead the theory itself. The existence of mathematical entities follows from the theory itself, not from the truth of the theory (in the sense of correspondence theory). >Mathematical entities. --- II 120 Realism/Variant/Field: here: Thesis: "There are sentences in our language that are true, but for which we shall never have a reason to believe them." - Then you need a T-concept to generalize. > Infinite conjunction/disjunction. Anti-realism/variant: would be the opposite position here: to identify truth with justifiability in the long run. >ideal justification. --- IV 405f Metaphysical Realism/Field: three game styles. Metaphysical realism 1: there are mind-independent objects. Metaphysical realism 2: There is only one correct description (FieldVs) Metaphysical realism 3: correspondence theory. A refutation of metaphysical realism 3 is not yet one of metaphysical realism 1. IV 414 PutnamVsMetaphysical Realism: Thesis: metaphysical realism leads to a dichotomy facts/values. >Relativism. This refutes itself. Dichotomy between evaluative (pseudo-facts, nonfactual) and non-evaluative facts. FieldVsPutnam/Field per relativism: we can refer the relativism to purely evaluative statements (not facts). Garfinkel: the relativism itself is no valuation. Internal Realism/Putnam: our standards of rationality are objectively correct. >Internal realism/Putnam._____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Field I H. Field Realism, Mathematics and Modality Oxford New York 1989 Field II H. Field Truth and the Absence of Fact Oxford New York 2001 Field III H. Field Science without numbers Princeton New Jersey 1980 Field IV Hartry Field "Realism and Relativism", The Journal of Philosophy, 76 (1982), pp. 553-67 In Theories of Truth, Paul Horwich, Aldershot 1994 |