What is realism and who is a realist?

In philosophy there is a huge number of very different currents and teachings. All of them are designated by certain terms. People often refer to one of the most common systems of views of the world, calling themselves a pessimist, an optimist, or a realist. These terms reflect the worldview of one or another individual, or the whole group. And if with optimists and pessimists all is less clear, then who is a realist?

Realism as a direction of philosophy

So who is a realist? First of all, one should understand that such a philosophical term denotes a person who postulates the existence of an entity independent of the subject. There is a popular saying that describes the essence of this term in comparison with the three above main types of worldview. The one who sees the glass half empty is a pessimist. The one who sees the glass half full is an optimist. A realist is one who is more important than the contents of a glass.

Three meanings of the term

Who is a realist? It is a follower of a certain philosophical current - realism. There are three possible understandings of the latter:

1. Realism is perceived as a direction that in medieval philosophy was opposed to conceptualism and nominalism.
2. This term indicates the direction of philosophical thought in the new time, which is opposed to idealism. This kind of realism (epistemological) considers objective knowledge regardless of the representations, beliefs and views of individual subjects, insisting on the idea that sensory experience can provide direct and direct access to an understanding of the surrounding subject of the world.
3. Modern philosophical views view realism as the opposite of anti-realism.

Naive Realism

Naive realism is the point of view, which is shared by most people, from the position of common sense. The basic idea is that modern science absolutely describes the world. Who is a naive realist? It is a person who perceives only those categories that are confirmed by scientific knowledge.

Realism scientific

This subtype postulates the thesis of the existence of some objective truth. All scientific theories have only one goal - the discovery of truth and scientific progress. Since the theories put forward by scientists are taken for unconditionally true, it is believed that they describe adequately reality.

Ontological Realism

This subspecies believes that the reality described by scientific theories does not depend on theoretical assumptions and on the subject's thinking. Ontological realism tries to answer some questions: "what are the real entities?", "Does the world exist independently of the observer?"

Realism epistemological

In this view, it is assumed that some scientific theories, which are confirmed as true, are only approximate to the truth. Who is a realist with an epistemological point of view? Such a person in his outlook and perception of the world tries to find the answer to the question: can there be an objective true knowledge about reality and the world?

Realism is semantic

This kind of popular philosophical view believes that theories are interpreted as realistic, since scientific theses point exclusively to real entities and describe reality. Who is a realist semantic? This is a person who suggests that all scientific theories try to give a perfect and true description of reality that exists independently of the object perceiving it. The truth for such a philosopher is the correspondence between reality and its language description. In particular, this approach unites all three basic types of worldview, whether it be a realist, a pessimist or an optimist. Only the final conclusion is different.