13
votes
Accepted
What makes moral realism so popular a standpoint?
Moral Realism isn't a clear term. The way the survey is set up, some constructivists could label themselves under it. (I've also heard of terminology that puts Moral Relativism under Moral Realism, so ...
- 1,875
12
votes
Accepted
What is the Anti-Realist and Constructionist interpretation of empirical dating methods and existence of the past?
Dummett, the founder of modern analytic anti-realism, emphasizes that unlike realism, anti-realism is not a unified doctrine, one can be an anti-realist about some specific domain (mathematics, ...
- 42.5k
9
votes
Accepted
Does Quine's dissolution of the Analytic/Synthetic distinction challenge mathematical realism?
The short answer is that Quine is not a mathematical realist as intended in the question (on my reading of it). Why does he call himself a realist? Because he practices what he preaches. Indeterminacy ...
- 42.5k
9
votes
Does Quantum Entanglement Disprove the Principle of Locality?
In the relevant sense the answer is "no", the appearance of a "yes" is created by projecting classical intuitions about locality onto quantum objects. This is confusing because the definition of ...
- 42.5k
7
votes
Accepted
What is the underdetermination of theories by evidence, and how does it square with scientific realism?
Underdetermination of theory by evidence, explored in great detail by Quine, means that from finitely many observations and measurements, that we are able to make by any point in time, even combined ...
- 42.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Can nominalist logicians reject universals but accept universal statements?
Yes, a nominalist logician can do so, and even preserve classical logic and while denying existence of both abstract objects and universals. What gives? A nominalist changes the standard semantics ...
- 42.5k
7
votes
Accepted
Was Plato an idealist or a realist?
Both Plato and Gödel were mathematical platonists. Both held that mathematical objects existed abstractly and outside of spacetime. This is what we would call mathematical realism. This position is ...
- 541
7
votes
Different theistic religions contradict each other
If (from a religious perspective) god supposedly created all the religious rules,
Not all religions subscribe to this. Buddhism for example doesn't really talk about who created the rules, and ...
- 27.1k
6
votes
What makes moral realism so popular a standpoint?
Moral realism I take to be broadly the view that moral judgements can be true or false, that some are true and are known to be true. There has been an upsurge of interest in and sympathy with moral ...
- 35.4k
6
votes
Realism and idealism
'Realism' is used in different ways depending on the context and on what it is being contrasted with. For example, when speaking of realism with respect to properties or universals, realism is ...
- 22.8k
6
votes
Accepted
How do we know that the superposition of states in quantum mechanics is a real phenomenon? Does this have philosophical significance?
The embarrassing truth for physics is that the ontology of quantum theory remains unclear. I might have some objections to your suggestion that electrons might 'disappear' between measurements- ...
- 13.1k
5
votes
Was Plato an idealist or a realist?
The main thing happening here is a shift in the meaning of terms. Specifically, the word "realist" has had many many different uses over time. The basic idea is that a realist believes something is ...
- 24.6k
5
votes
Does Einstein's local realism in quantum mechanics imply superdeterminism?
You are right that Bell's inequalities do not rule out "superdeterminism" (Bell's term), as he himself acknowledged:"...if our measurements are not independently variable as we supposed...even if ...
- 42.5k
5
votes
Is G.E. Moore's here-is-one-hand argument a bit naive?
Euclid was mocked for demonstrating existence of triangles, and Peano for proving that 1 is a number (by Poincaré, no less), but both contributed to clarifying foundations of mathematics. Considering ...
- 42.5k
4
votes
What is the difference between everyday realism and metaphysical realism?
I think here the difference in certainty is the difference in purpose. We put much more certainty into everyday realism because all we are using it for is practical action. And that indeed requires it,...
- 42.5k
4
votes
How might an idealist explain the empirical success of science?
They would not in so far as idealists are not realists. The no miracle argument is an argument for realism: it says that realism is the only (or best) explanation, so the argument works against any ...
- 5,830
4
votes
Accepted
Is it possible to have faith in science while espousing anti-realism?
Science assumes the real world in the same sense we assume that the Sun goes around the Earth in our everyday lives, or mathematics assumes an ideal realm populated with numbers and structures. It is ...
- 42.5k
4
votes
What does Husserl say about 'space'?
Mature Husserl is usually seen as a mild anti-realist, but this is largely due to the maxim that phenomenology should be neutral (agnostic) on metaphysical matters because it is the data it produces ...
- 42.5k
4
votes
Accepted
Epistemic access to possible worlds for David Lewis and empiricism
David Lewis (IEP), a great contemporary philosophical mind, had empirical beliefs and certainly, like most professional contemporary philosophers, had a naturalized epistemology. But was he an ...
- 22.7k
4
votes
Accepted
How is scientific realism not an example of the fallacy of the converse?
Most of our normal thinking about the world is not purely deductive. When you wish to judge which is a better location for your papercraft business, or where you put your hat, or who is the current ...
- 11.1k
4
votes
Accepted
Is it possible for words to have a meaning other than how they are used?
Meanings of words are attributed to them by humans. One consequence is that you can never be sure whether the meaning of a word intended by the person who utters or writes it is the same as the ...
- 13.1k
3
votes
Accepted
Does semantic externalism imply modal realism?
This question seems to have been resurrected; I trust no-one minds if I answer it.
If a philosopher accepts semantic externalism and accepts that possible worlds are the correct form of semantics ...
- 1,070
3
votes
Accepted
What are facts as considered independently of any thinking being?
"The sun rises every morning". That is a fact about reality. But it is a string of letters unless one understands what "sun", "rises", "every" and "morning" mean. What they mean has to be established ...
- 42.5k
3
votes
Accepted
For a mathematical realist, is there a distinction between real mathematical objects and constructed mathematical objects?
Yes there is. Maddy takes this position in Perception and Mathematical Intuition, and so do recent mathematical Aristotelians. The alternative of believing it all real usually comes with full blown ...
- 42.5k
3
votes
How are epistemological and ontological realism related?
They are related in the same way as for idealism, epistemology provides a necessary foundation for ontology, if not strictly logically then morally. It is logically possible to be ontological realist ...
- 42.5k
3
votes
Accepted
How does Kant rule out permanent soul in his argument for the existence of external world?
Körner is referring to the Refutation of Idealism argument (B274–279), directed against the skepticism about the external world attributed to Descartes and Berkeley. The idealism in question is the "...
- 42.5k
3
votes
Accepted
When Aristotle is speaking of things that are clear to us, is he thinking of entities or formulas?
I must extend some sympathy to Charlton because Aristotle's remarks at the start of Physics I are compressed and gnomic.
▻ SUBJECT-MATTER OF PHYSICS
The subject-matter of Aristotelian physics is, ...
- 35.4k
3
votes
Are all pancomputationalist models for the universe compatible with informational realism?
Pancomputationalism is a term encompassing all paradigms of a computational world, which proceed from the realization that nature can successfully be explained by computable scientific models. It ...
- 1,949
3
votes
Realism vs Antirealism...why does it matter?
I assume your question is about scientific realism.
The debate can be framed as a question concerning what science aims to achieve, and what it's successful at: is it at discovering the fundamental ...
- 5,830
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