Knowledge

What is naive realism? For that matter, what is realism?

Comments

'Realism' is used in a number of senses. One of the most common is the idea that there is determinate world out there independent of us and that we can know something about it. This contrasts for example with idealism, according to which everything that exists is mental. 'Naive Realism' may be mean thinking that something is mind independent when one should know better. Thus a philosopher who thinks that colours are really just sensations (and perhaps even a philosopher who thinks that colours are powers to produce sensations) may call another philosopher who thinks that colours are as much 'out there' as shapes a naive realist. More generally, 'naive realism' is often used to refer to the view that we see things directly and that they have the properties they seem to have.

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