3. REALISM
Realism, in the arts, the accurate, detailed, unembellished
depiction of nature or of contemporary life. Realism rejects
imaginative idealization in favor of a close observation of
outward appearances. As such, realism in its broad sense has
comprised many artistic currents in different civilizations.
Realism, in philosophy, the viewpoint which accords to things
which are known or perceived an existence or nature which is
independent of whether anyone is thinking about or perceiving
them.
4. 1. REALISM IN ONTOLOGY
2. REALISM AND IDEALISM
3. REALISM AND TRUTH
4. METAPHYSICAL REALISM AND OBJECTIVE
TRUTH
Varieties of
Philosophical
Realism
5. REALISM IN ONTOLOGY
In application to matters of ontology, realism is standardly applied to
doctrines which assert the existence of entities of some problematic or
controversial kind. Even under this more restricted heading, however,
realism and opposition to it have taken significantly different forms, as
illustrated in the following three examples.
6. REALISM AND IDEALISM
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• The opposition between idealism and realism, although
undeniably ontological in a broad sense, is distinct both
from general disputes about realism in ontology and from
disputes which turn upon the notion of truth or its
applicability to statements of some specified type . In its
most straightforward and, arguably, basic sense, idealism
not only asserts the existence of “ideas” (and perhaps other
mental entities) but also advances a restrictive claim about
the nature or composition of reality as whole: there is
nothing in reality other than ideas and the minds whose
ideas they are. So understood, idealism is a form of
monism, which is opposed both to other forms of monism
(e.g., materialism) and to pluralism, which posits two or
more irreducibly distinct kinds of stuff or things (e.g., mental
and physical, as in various versions of dualism).
7. REALISM AND TRUTH
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• As suggested by the prevalence in philosophical discussion of composite labels such as scientific
realism, moral realism, and modal realism, realism need not be a global thesis. A realist attitude
with regard to one area of thought or discourse (e.g., science) is at least prima facie consistent with
an antirealist view with regard to others (e.g., morality or mathematics). Such eclecticism is
sometimes motivated by underlying beliefs about what kinds of objects should be accepted as
genuinely existing, or as part of the ultimate “furniture of the universe.” But sometimes it is not. At
least some realist-antirealist disagreements, including several contemporary ones, are better
understood as primarily concerned with whether statements belonging to a certain area of
discourse really are, as their surface grammar may indicate, capable of objective truth and so
capable of recording genuine, mind-independent facts. It is a further question whether, if
statements of a given kind are true or false as a matter of objective, mind-independent fact, those
statements record facts of some special irreducible type, distinctive of that discourse.
8. METAPHYSICAL REALISM AND
OBJECTIVE TRUTH
Although several realist disputes seem to turn on whether statements of a
certain kind are capable of being objectively true, it is far from obvious
what being objectively true amounts to. The question of what it is for a
statement to be objectively true has itself been a focus of realist-antirealist
disagreement.
Objective truth uncontroversially requires mind-independence, at least in
the sense of being true independently of what anyone knows or believes.
That is, if a proposition is to be “objectively” true, then it must be possible
for it to be true without anyone knowing or believing that it is; conversely,
believing the proposition should not be sufficient for its truth (except in a
few very special cases, such as believing that one believes something).
This notion of objectivity is clearly quite weak, and it falls well short of the
kind of objectivity attributed to true statements in some strongly realist
theories of truth.
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9. FOR REALISTS, THE HIGHEST GOAL IS THE SURVIVAL OF THE STATE, WHICH
EXPLAINS WHY STATES' ACTIONS ARE JUDGED ACCORDING TO THE ETHICS OF
RESPONSIBILITY RATHER THAN BY MORAL PRINCIPLES. THE DOMINANCE OF
REALISM HAS GENERATED A SIGNIFICANT STRAND OF LITERATURE CRITICIZING
ITS MAIN TENETS.
MAIN IDEA OF REALISM
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10. SUMMARY
Though never a coherent group, Realism is recognized as the first
modern movement in art, which rejected traditional forms of art,
literature, and social organization as outmoded in the wake of the
Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Beginning in France in
the 1840s, Realism revolutionized painting, expanding conceptions
of what constituted art. Working in a chaotic era marked by
revolution and widespread social change, Realist painters replaced
the idealistic images and literary conceits of traditional art with real-
life events, giving the margins of society similar weight to grand
history paintings and allegories. Their choice to bring everyday life
into their canvases was an early manifestation of the avant-garde
desire to merge art and life, and their rejection of pictorial
techniques, like perspective, prefigured the many 20th-century
definitions and redefinitions of modernism.
11. MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS
1. WHICH IS NOT AN EXTENSION OF REALISM?
A. WRITING IS AN ART OF THE COMMON PEOPLE.
B. NATURALISM
C. REGIONALISM
D. WRITING IS AN ACT OF GOD AND NATURE
2. WHICH STORY IS FROM THE REALISM MOVEMENT?
A. NARRATIVE OF THE LIFE OF FREDERICK DOUGLAS
B. A ROLE FOR EMILY
C. IN ANOTHER COUNTRY
D. THE GLASS CASTLE
3. HOW DOES REALISM UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF POWER?
A. POWER IS BASED ON ECONOMIC STRENGTH
B. POWER IS RELATIONAL CONCEPT
C. POWER IS A RELATIVE CONCEPT
D. POWER IS A RELATIONAL CONCEPT AND POWER IS RELATIVE CONCEPT
4. IN THE ORIGINAL GREEK, THE WORD PHILOSOPHY MEANS:
A. THE LOVE OF POLITICS
B. THE LOVE OF WISDOM
C. CITY OF BROTHERLY LOVE
D.THE LOVE OF LOVE
5. PHILOSOPHY PROCEEDS BY WAY OF;
A.RELIGIOUS FAITH
B. PEOPLES FEELING
C. ARGUMENT
D. GUESSWORK
12. 6. WHEN DID REALISM BEGIN?
A. 1840S B. 1850S C. 1940S D. 1950S
7. WHERE DID REALISM BEGINS?
A. ROME B. USE C. FRANCE D. HUNGARY
8. WHAT WAS REALISM MAIN FOCUS;
A. TO CREATE REALISTIC PIECES OF ARTWORK
B. REALISM DOESN’T HAVE A MAIN FOCUS
C. THE WRITER OR NARRATOR EMOTIONS AND INNER WORLD AND CELEBRATION OF NATURE
D. NONE OF THE ABOVE
9. THE STARTING POINT FOR REALISM IS A BASIC ACCEPTANCE THAT THE WORLD AROUND US;
A. IS AN ILLUSION
B. REALLY EXISTS
C. CANNOT BE PROVEN TO BE RIAL
D. DECEIVES OUR SENSES
10. THE ISSUES PHILOSOPHY STUDIES KEEP COMING UP THROUGHOUT HUMAN HISTORY, AND SO THEY ARE REFERRED
TO AS:
A. ANNUAL
B. UNSOLVABLE
C. PERENNIAL
D. UNIMPORTANT
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