Realism

Realism is a term that has a life outside of academia, for example, when someone refers to the need to “be realistic” in the sense of accepting a given situation and dealing with it without fuss or sentiment. Although this everyday use does not indicate the full complexity, and even ambiguity, of the term as it appears within academic debates, it does reflect something quite important about how philosophers and scientists think about the concept. This is because it points, first and foremost, to the need to acknowledge the “reality” of a situation regardless of what the person experiencing it may well wish or have believed and, second, to the desirability of acting in an appropriately “practical” manner. How, then, do academics think through the complexities of reality and practicality?

To take the term reality first, it is generally taken as a defining feature of realist thought that matter, in the form of both objects and events, exists independently of the observer. What this means is that despite how ideas on the nature of, say, the earth may change over time and across cultures—that is, whether we think of the earth as flat or spherical, as a product of God or the “big bang”—there is no denying the fact that the object itself is everpresent and that this presence would continue if all of humanity were to be terminated. Even objects that are manufactured, such as houses and cars, are considered to have an independent existence in the sense that once they are fashioned they have a physical presence.

A practical response to this situation is to attempt to capture accurately something of the type and character of these phenomena such that objects can be used more readily and future events can be predicted more readily. For some academics, commonly grouped under the heading of rational materialism, this can be accomplished through the rejection of a priori theories and beliefs about the nature of phenomena (including religious, emotional, and subjective observations) and an emphasis on the adoption and careful deployment of the scientific method. This consists of, among other things, the quantification of the empirical aspects of phenomena (i.e., that which can be observed and measured through the use of accepted equipment and scales) and the use of those modes of representation that can best approximate the real-world form of those phenomena (e.g., mathematics).

For others, working within historical or dialectical materialism, it is also taken as a given that an ordered reality of objects and events exists independently of our perception of it and that, in principle, we can gain accurate knowledge of that world. This approach does differ from that just outlined, however, in its insistence on the fact that we cannot rely on empirical observation to accomplish this. This is because, it is argued, the world we observe around us has been fashioned within, or is influenced by, broader-scale social relations of production (e.g., feudalist, capitalist, socialist) that must be deduced to appreciate their nature and efficacy. Moreover, because we are a part of this world, we must acknowledge the manner in which our own and others' bodies, as well as our own and others' thoughts and feelings, are also shaped by these same relations of production. This reality often is hidden from us by the promulgation of false ideologies about the way in which the world works; however, it is argued that we are capable of appreciating and articulating truths concerning society and the individual as well as the interaction between society and nature. On a practical level, the best way in which to proceed is to alert others to the reality of their own situation and to work to produce a society in which misery, exploitation, and degradation are eradicated.

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