Realism and Antirealism / / ed. by William P. Alston.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Cornell University Press Backlist 2000-2013
• MitwirkendeR: Alston, William P.,; Anderson, David Leech,; Clark, Kelly James,; Colvert, Gavin T.,; Cortens, Andrew,; Hiskes, Anne L.,; Howard-Snyder, Frances,; Lynch, Michael P.,; McLeod, Mark S.,; Miller, Caleb,; Murray, Michael J.,; Rolnick, Philip A.,; Smit, Laura A.,; Tollefsen, Christopher,; Woudenberg, Rene van,
• HerausgeberIn: Alston, William P.,
• Place / Publishing House: Ithaca, NY : : Cornell University Press, , [2018]; ©2002
• Year of Publication: 2018
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (320 p.)

Throughout the past century, a debate has raged over the thesis of realism and its alternatives. Realism-the seemingly commonsensical view that all or most of what we encounter in the world exists and is what it is independently of human thought-has been vigorously denied by such prominent intellectuals as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Richard Rorty, Thomas Kuhn, Hilary Putnam, and Nelson Goodman. The opponents of realism, among them historians and social scientists who support social constructionism, hold that all or most of reality depends on human conceptual schemes and beliefs. In this volume of original essays, a group of philosophers explores the ongoing controversy. The book opens with an introduction by William P. Alston, whose writing on the subject has been widely influential. Selected essays then compare and contrast aspects of the arguments put forward by the realists with those of the antirealists. Other chapters discuss the importance of the debate for philosophical topics such as epistemology and for domains ranging from religion, literature, and science to morality.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- I. BASIC ISSUES FOR REALISM AND ANTIREALISM -- 1. Realism, Antirealism, and Common Sense -- 2. Realism and Irrealism: A Dialogue -- 3. Dividing the World into Objects -- 4. Pluralism, Metaphysical Realism, and Ultimate Reality -- 5. The God's I Point of View -- 6. What Metaphysical Realism Is Not -- II. TRUTH AND METAPHYSICAL REALISM -- 7· On the Metaphysical Implications of Alethic Realism -- 8. Why God Is Not a Semantic Realist -- III. REALISM AND EPISTEMOLOGY -- 9. Cooperative, Coordinative, and Coercive Epistemologies -- 10. "In Your Light, We See Light": The Continuing Viability of a Christocentric Epistemology -- IV. DEPARTMENTAL REALISMS AND ANTIREALISMS -- A. Religion -- 11. Thomism with a Realist Face: A Response to Hilary Putnam -- 12. Realist Reference to God: Analogy or Univocity? -- B. Science and Religion -- 13. Van Fraassen's Constructive Empiricist Philosophy of Science and 2II Religious Belief: Prospects for a Unified Epistemology -- C. Literature and Morality -- 14. Truth in Fiction: The Whole Story -- 15. Fiction as a Kind of Philosophy -- Select Bibliography -- Notes on Contributors -- Index