Realism and Anti-Realism

Abstract

Questions about the plausibility and character of realism and its alternatives are at the heart of all metaphysical disputes today. However it is not a straightforward matter to know when some contentious realm of entities is real, or to understand and appreciate what is at issue between those on either side of the dispute. This book aims to make clear what is really at stake in the contemporary realism debate. The first part of the book examines the realist and anti-realist debate abstracted away from any particular application of it. The authors explain local realism and anti-realism and look at the motivations that might support one position over the other with regard to a particular subject matter. In addition, they examine particular types of global anti-realism – idealism, Kantianism, verificationism – and show how each is motivated by intricate combinations of semantic, epistemological and metaphysical reasons. In the second part of the book the authors explore how the ideas outlined in Part 1 can and have been applied to different subject matters. They examine the respective cases for realism and anti-realism about colours, morality, science, mathematics, modality, and fiction. The authors show that the realism and anti-realism debates within various different domains are much more unified than we are often led to believe, and that a comparison of the realism debates in different areas can give us an appreciation of the need for a kind of consistency in our views that is often lacking. Realism and Anti-Realism offers readers a clear introduction to a subject central to contemporary work in metaphysics, epistemology and philosophy of language.