Welcome, dear students, to Class 11 Logic and Philosophy Chapter 14 Question Answer | Realism | English Medium | ASSEB. Realism is one of the oldest and most influential theories of knowledge and reality in the history of philosophy. It holds that the world of objects which we perceive around us has an existence of its own, independent of any knowing mind. Whether or not anyone is looking at the table, thinking about the mountain, or remembering the river, the table, the mountain and the river continue to exist with their own qualities and their own being. Chapter 14 of the Class 11 Logic and Philosophy textbook introduces this realist theory in a systematic way, traces its development from the ancient Greeks to the twentieth century, and contrasts it sharply with the rival theory of idealism that we shall study in the next chapter.
This article has been prepared strictly in accordance with the ASSEB (Assam State School Education Board) syllabus and the SCERT prescribed textbook for Higher Secondary First Year (Class 11) Logic and Philosophy. It contains a clear summary of the chapter, a complete textbook question-answer set covering very short, short and long answer questions, additional important questions for examination preparation, a glossary of technical terms, a comparison table of Realism and Idealism, and a reference table summarising the major types of Realism with their principal supporters. Students preparing for the ASSEB Class 11 final examination will find here every concept and every philosopher that the syllabus requires them to know.
Summary of Chapter 14: Realism
Realism is the metaphysical and epistemological theory which maintains that the objects of our knowledge have an existence which is independent of the mind that knows them. The English word realism is derived from the Latin word realis, which itself comes from res meaning “thing” or “matter”. A realist is therefore a philosopher who places the “thing” first and asserts that things exist on their own, prior to and independently of our perception or thought.
The realist position can be summed up in three central claims. First, the objects of knowledge are real in the sense that they have their own being. Second, these objects exist independently of the mind, of consciousness and of the act of knowing. Third, the relation between the knowing mind and the known object is an external relation; knowledge does not constitute or create the object, it only reveals it. From these three claims it follows that when knowledge is removed the object continues to exist, but when the object is removed there can be no knowledge of it. Realism therefore gives priority to the object over the subject and to being over knowing.
Realists distinguish their view from idealism, which holds that reality is essentially mental or spiritual, that the object depends upon the mind for its existence, and that nothing can exist apart from being perceived or thought. Where the idealist says esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived), the realist says esse est in re (to be is to be in itself). Realism also opposes scepticism by affirming that knowledge of the external world is genuinely possible.
The realist tradition recognises several internal varieties. Naive Realism or Common-sense Realism is the view of the ordinary unreflective person who believes that the world is exactly as it appears to the senses. Scientific Realism or Critical Realism accepts the independent existence of the external world but distinguishes between primary and secondary qualities, holding that science gradually corrects the picture given by the senses. Neo-Realism, developed in the early twentieth century by G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, Samuel Alexander and the American philosophers Perry, Holt and Marvin, denies any mental intermediary between mind and object and argues that the object is directly presented in consciousness. Critical Realism, formulated in 1920 by Santayana, Drake, Sellars and others, restores the role of an idea or sense-datum as the medium through which the independent object is known.
The Western realist tradition begins with Aristotle, continues through the British empiricists John Locke and Thomas Reid, and culminates in the New Realism movement of 1912 and the Critical Realism movement of 1920. In Indian thought, realist tendencies are equally ancient and well-developed. The Nyaya-Vaisheshika school is the classical Indian system of pluralistic realism. The Charvaka materialists, the Sautrantika and Vaibhasika schools of Buddhism, the Mimamsa school and the Jaina school are all realist in their basic standpoint, though they differ on details.
Realism rests on several strong arguments: it agrees with common sense, it is presupposed by all the empirical sciences, it explains the constancy and publicity of objects, and it accounts for the possibility of error. Yet it also faces serious objections from the idealist side: it cannot easily explain illusion, hallucination and dream, it cannot bridge the gap between mind and matter, and it cannot finally prove the independence of the object from the act of knowing. Despite these difficulties, Realism remains the working philosophy of the natural sciences and of ordinary life, and its educational implications stress the importance of facts, observation, experiment and the objective study of nature and society.
Textbook Questions and Answers
A. Very Short Answer Questions (1 mark)
1. What is Realism?
Answer: Realism is the theory of knowledge and reality which holds that the objects of knowledge have an independent existence outside and apart from the mind that knows them.
2. From which Latin word is the term “Realism” derived?
Answer: The term “Realism” is derived from the Latin word realis, which is itself formed from res meaning “thing” or “matter”.
3. According to Realism, do objects depend on the mind for their existence?
Answer: No. According to Realism, objects do not depend on the mind for their existence; they exist on their own whether or not any mind knows them.
4. What kind of relation does the realist see between knowledge and its object?
Answer: The realist sees the relation between knowledge and its object as an external relation, that is, a relation that does not affect the inner being of either the knowing mind or the known object.
5. Name three Western philosophers who are supporters of Realism.
Answer: Aristotle, John Locke and Bertrand Russell.
6. Name two American Neo-Realist philosophers.
Answer: R. B. Perry and E. B. Holt.
7. Who is regarded as the founder of Critical Realism in the twentieth century?
Answer: The American philosopher George Santayana, along with Durant Drake and Roy Wood Sellars, is regarded as a founder of twentieth-century Critical Realism.
8. In which year was the New Realism movement formally launched?
Answer: The New Realism movement was formally launched in the year 1912 with the publication of The New Realism: Co-operative Studies in Philosophy.
9. In which year was the Critical Realism movement formally launched?
Answer: The Critical Realism movement was formally launched in the year 1920 with the publication of Essays in Critical Realism.
10. Who distinguished between primary qualities and secondary qualities?
Answer: The English philosopher John Locke distinguished between primary qualities and secondary qualities of an object.
11. Give two examples of primary qualities.
Answer: Extension (size) and shape (figure) are two examples of primary qualities. Other primary qualities are number, motion and solidity.
12. Give two examples of secondary qualities.
Answer: Colour and taste are two examples of secondary qualities. Other secondary qualities are sound, smell and temperature.
13. Name the Indian school which is regarded as the classical example of pluralistic Realism.
Answer: The Nyaya-Vaisheshika school of Indian philosophy is regarded as the classical example of pluralistic Realism.
14. Name two Buddhist schools which adopt a realist position.
Answer: The Sautrantika school and the Vaibhasika school are two Buddhist schools which adopt a realist position.
15. Which school of Indian philosophy is regarded as materialistic and realist?
Answer: The Charvaka school (also called Lokayata) is regarded as the materialistic and realist school of Indian philosophy.
16. What is the opposite theory of Realism?
Answer: The opposite theory of Realism is Idealism.
17. Who is generally regarded as the father of modern Realism in twentieth-century philosophy?
Answer: G. E. Moore, the British philosopher who wrote the famous essay The Refutation of Idealism in 1903, is generally regarded as the father of modern Realism in twentieth-century philosophy.
18. What is Naive Realism?
Answer: Naive Realism, also called Common-sense Realism, is the view that the external world is exactly as it appears to our senses.
19. What is Neo-Realism?
Answer: Neo-Realism is the early twentieth-century form of Realism which holds that the object is directly presented in consciousness without the mediation of any mental copy or idea.
20. What is Critical Realism?
Answer: Critical Realism is the form of Realism which accepts the independent existence of the external object but holds that the object is known through the medium of an idea or sense-datum, not directly.
B. Short Answer Questions (2 to 3 marks)
21. State the meaning and etymology of the word “Realism”.
Answer: The word “Realism” is derived from the Latin word realis, which comes from the noun res meaning “thing”, “matter” or “real being”. As a philosophical doctrine, Realism is the view that things or objects exist in their own right, independently of the mind that knows them. The realist therefore gives priority to the object, asserting that being is prior to knowing and that the world of facts is not constituted by the consciousness of any individual or any community of individuals.
22. State the central thesis of Realism in three points.
Answer: The central thesis of Realism may be stated in the following three points. (i) The objects of our knowledge are real, that is, they have their own being. (ii) These objects exist independently of the mind, of consciousness and of the act of knowing them. (iii) The relation between the knowing mind and the known object is an external relation, so that the object is not affected by being known and would continue to exist in exactly the same way even if no one were ever to know it.
23. What is meant by Naive or Common-sense Realism?
Answer: Naive or Common-sense Realism is the unreflective view of the ordinary person who is not yet a philosopher. The naive realist believes that the external world is exactly as it appears to the senses: the table is really brown and four-legged, the rose is really red and fragrant, the sky is really blue, and so on. According to this view, the qualities we perceive belong literally to the objects, and there is no difference between the way things appear and the way things are. It is the simplest and most natural form of Realism, but philosophical reflection soon shows that it cannot be wholly correct.
24. What is meant by Scientific or Critical Realism?
Answer: Scientific or Critical Realism is the more reflective form of Realism which is suggested by the discoveries of the natural sciences. It accepts that there is an external world independent of the mind, but it does not accept that the world is exactly as it appears to the senses. The scientific realist points out that colour, sound, taste, smell and temperature as we experience them are partly due to the constitution of our sense organs, while the real properties of the object are its size, shape, number, motion and other measurable features. Science thus corrects the naive picture and gives a more accurate account of the independent reality.
25. What is meant by Neo-Realism? Name its principal supporters.
Answer: Neo-Realism is the new form of Realism which arose in the early years of the twentieth century as a reaction against the dominant idealism of Hegel, Bradley and Green. The Neo-Realists hold that the object is presented directly in consciousness, without the mediation of any mental copy or idea, and that knowledge is therefore an immediate awareness of the real object. The principal British Neo-Realists are G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and Samuel Alexander. The principal American Neo-Realists, who jointly published The New Realism in 1912, are R. B. Perry, E. B. Holt, W. T. Marvin, W. P. Montague, W. B. Pitkin and E. G. Spaulding.
26. What is meant by Critical Realism? Name its principal supporters.
Answer: Critical Realism is the form of Realism which arose in 1920 as a critical reaction to Neo-Realism. The Critical Realists agree with the Neo-Realists that the external object is real and independent of the mind, but they deny that the object is directly presented in consciousness. Instead, they hold that the object is known through the medium of an idea, an essence or a sense-datum, which represents the object without being identical with it. The principal Critical Realists are George Santayana, Durant Drake, Roy Wood Sellars, Arthur Lovejoy, James B. Pratt, C. A. Strong and Charles A. Rogers, who jointly published Essays in Critical Realism in 1920.
27. State Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities.
Answer: The English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) distinguished two kinds of qualities in every material object. Primary qualities are those qualities which really belong to the object itself and which the object cannot lose without ceasing to be a body. They include extension, shape, size, number, motion, rest and solidity. Our ideas of primary qualities resemble the qualities themselves. Secondary qualities are qualities such as colour, sound, taste, smell and temperature, which are not really in the object but are powers in the object to produce certain sensations in us through the action of the primary qualities of its minute particles on our sense organs. Our ideas of secondary qualities do not resemble anything in the object itself.
28. Mention the contributions of Aristotle to the development of Realism.
Answer: Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) is regarded as the first systematic realist of the Western world. Against his teacher Plato, who held that the universal Forms exist in a separate intelligible world, Aristotle argued that the universal exists in and through particular things, that matter and form are inseparable in nature, and that the proper objects of knowledge are the concrete substances of the visible world. Aristotle thus rooted philosophy in the careful observation of nature, founded the empirical sciences of biology, physics and psychology, and bequeathed to later thought the realist conviction that reality is to be found in the things around us, not in a transcendent realm of ideas.
29. State the contribution of John Locke to Realism.
Answer: John Locke is the founder of British empirical Realism. In his Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) he argued that all our knowledge is ultimately derived from experience, that the mind at birth is a tabula rasa or blank slate, that the external world acts upon the senses to produce simple ideas, and that the mind combines these simple ideas into complex ideas. He distinguished primary from secondary qualities, defended the existence of material substance as the unknown support of qualities, and laid the foundations of the modern theory of representative perception. Through Locke, Realism became closely linked with the experimental method of modern science.
30. State the contribution of Thomas Reid to Realism.
Answer: Thomas Reid (1710-1796), the founder of the Scottish School of Common Sense, defended Realism against the scepticism of Hume and the idealism of Berkeley. Reid argued that the immediate object of perception is not an idea or impression in the mind but the external object itself, and that the existence of an external world is one of the self-evident principles of common sense which no sane person can seriously doubt. By restoring the directness of perception, Reid prepared the way for the Neo-Realism of the twentieth century.
31. What is the New Realism movement of 1912?
Answer: The New Realism movement of 1912 is the joint philosophical movement of six American philosophers — R. B. Perry, E. B. Holt, W. T. Marvin, W. P. Montague, W. B. Pitkin and E. G. Spaulding — who in that year published a co-operative volume entitled The New Realism: Co-operative Studies in Philosophy. They rejected the idealist doctrine that the object depends on the mind, defended the immediate or direct presentation of the object in consciousness, and held that knowledge is a relation between the mind and the object in which the object enters consciousness without losing its independent reality. The movement marks the first organised revival of Realism in twentieth-century philosophy.
32. What is the Critical Realism movement of 1920?
Answer: The Critical Realism movement of 1920 is the joint philosophical movement of seven American philosophers — Durant Drake, A. O. Lovejoy, J. B. Pratt, A. K. Rogers, George Santayana, R. W. Sellars and C. A. Strong — who in that year published a co-operative volume entitled Essays in Critical Realism. They agreed with the New Realists that the external world is independent of the mind, but they argued that the New Realists could not satisfactorily explain illusion, hallucination and error. The Critical Realists therefore restored the doctrine that the object is known through the medium of an idea, essence or sense-datum which represents but is not identical with the object.
33. What is the realism of the Nyaya-Vaisheshika school?
Answer: The Nyaya-Vaisheshika is the joint school formed by the union of the Nyaya logic of Gautama and the Vaisheshika atomism of Kanada. It is the classical Indian example of pluralistic Realism. According to this school, the world consists of seven independently real categories or padarthas — substance (dravya), quality (guna), action (karma), generality (samanya), particularity (vishesha), inherence (samavaya) and non-existence (abhava). The physical world is composed of eternal atoms of earth, water, fire and air, which combine to form perceivable objects. Souls and God are also independently real. Knowledge is a true cognition of these independently existing realities, obtained through perception, inference, comparison and verbal testimony.
34. What is the realism of the Charvaka school?
Answer: The Charvaka school, also known as Lokayata, is the materialistic and realist school of Indian philosophy. It accepts as real only what is perceivable by the senses. According to the Charvaka, the world is composed of the four material elements — earth, water, fire and air — and consciousness is a product of these elements when combined in the body, just as the intoxicating power of wine arises from the combination of its non-intoxicating ingredients. Sense-perception is the only valid source of knowledge, and the soul, God and the next life are rejected as unreal. The Charvaka realism is thus a thorough-going material realism.
35. Briefly state the realism of the Sautrantika and Vaibhasika schools.
Answer: The Sautrantika and Vaibhasika are the two realist schools within the Hinayana tradition of Buddhism. Both accept the independent existence of the external world. The Vaibhasika school holds the view of direct realism — that external objects are directly perceived by the senses. The Sautrantika school holds the view of indirect or representative realism — that we do not perceive the external object directly but only an idea or copy of it which the object produces in the mind, and the existence of the object is then inferred from the existence of the idea.
36. State briefly the realism of the Mimamsa school.
Answer: The Mimamsa school of Jaimini, especially in the schools of Kumarila and Prabhakara, is a realist school which accepts the independent reality of the external world, of individual souls and of the laws of dharma laid down in the Vedas. Mimamsa holds that knowledge is intrinsically valid (svatah-pramana), that the objects revealed in true cognition are exactly as they are cognised, and that the external world does not depend on any mind, divine or human, for its being.
37. State briefly the realism of the Jaina school.
Answer: The Jaina school is a realist and pluralistic school which holds that reality consists of many independently existing substances classified as the living (jiva) and the non-living (ajiva). Every real thing has innumerable aspects and qualities, and reality itself is characterised by origination, decay and permanence at the same time. The Jaina theory of knowledge — the doctrine of anekantavada or many-sidedness, supported by the methods of nayavada and syadvada — recognises that an object can be truly described from many different standpoints, but the object itself remains independently real.
38. State two main differences between Naive Realism and Scientific Realism.
Answer: (i) Naive Realism holds that the external world is exactly as it appears to the senses, whereas Scientific Realism holds that the external world is in many respects different from its appearance and that science gradually corrects the picture given by ordinary perception. (ii) Naive Realism makes no distinction between primary and secondary qualities, treating colour, sound, taste, smell and temperature as objective features of the object, whereas Scientific Realism, following Locke, holds that primary qualities really belong to the object while secondary qualities are partly due to the constitution of our sense organs.
39. State two main differences between Neo-Realism and Critical Realism.
Answer: (i) Neo-Realism holds that the external object is directly presented in consciousness without any mental intermediary, whereas Critical Realism holds that the object is known indirectly through the medium of an idea, essence or sense-datum which represents the object. (ii) Neo-Realism finds it difficult to explain illusion and error, since on its view consciousness is always of the real object itself, whereas Critical Realism easily explains illusion and error by saying that the medium of representation may sometimes fail to correspond exactly to the object.
40. State three arguments in favour of Realism.
Answer: (i) Realism agrees with common sense and with the natural conviction of mankind that the world existed long before any human mind appeared in it and will continue to exist long after the last human mind has disappeared. (ii) Realism is the working presupposition of all the empirical sciences, which would lose their meaning if their objects were merely mental constructions. (iii) Realism alone can satisfactorily explain the publicity, constancy and intersubjective agreement of our experience of the world, since these features would be inexplicable if every object were a private creation of an individual mind.
41. State two main arguments against Realism.
Answer: (i) Realism cannot easily explain illusion, hallucination, dream and error, because if every act of awareness directly grasps an independently existing object, there should be no room for the mind to perceive what is not really there. (ii) Realism cannot prove the independence of the object from the act of knowing, because the moment we try to think of an unknown object we are already knowing it; the supposed independent object is therefore inseparable from some knowing mind, as the idealist insists.
42. State the educational implications of Realism.
Answer: Realism has far-reaching educational implications. It emphasises that the aim of education is to acquaint the child with the real world of nature and society. It gives priority to the study of natural sciences, mathematics, history, geography and other content-based subjects. It favours the methods of observation, experimentation, field work and laboratory work over mere verbal instruction. It treats the teacher as a guide who acquaints the child with the facts of the world, and the curriculum as an organised body of objective knowledge. It also stresses discipline, regularity and respect for objective truth in the conduct of school life.
C. Long Answer Questions (5 to 6 marks)
43. What is Realism? Explain its central characteristics.
Answer: Realism is the philosophical theory which maintains that the objects of our knowledge have an existence which is independent of the mind that knows them. The word is derived from the Latin realis, from res meaning “thing”. The realist position therefore gives logical priority to the thing over the thought, to being over knowing.
The central characteristics of Realism are five in number. First, independent existence: the objects of knowledge — physical things, qualities, relations, events — exist on their own, whether or not any mind is aware of them. Second, externality of the relation of knowing: the relation between the mind and the object is an external relation; the object is not constituted, modified or affected by being known, and would remain exactly the same if it were never known at all. Third, objectivity of qualities: the qualities of the object — at least the primary qualities — really belong to the object and are not projected upon it by the perceiving mind. Fourth, possibility of knowledge: in spite of the independence of the object, knowledge of it is genuinely possible; the mind can grasp the object as it is. Fifth, plurality of reals: there is not just one Absolute reality but a plurality of independently existing things, qualities and relations, all equally entitled to be called real.
These five characteristics distinguish Realism sharply from idealism, from solipsism and from scepticism, and provide the working framework for both common sense and the empirical sciences.
44. Explain the different types of Realism.
Answer: Within the broad realist tradition four main types of Realism are commonly distinguished.
(i) Naive or Common-sense Realism. This is the realism of the ordinary unreflective person, who believes that the world is exactly as it appears to the senses — that grass is really green, the sky really blue, sugar really sweet and so on. The qualities we perceive belong literally to the objects, and there is no gap between appearance and reality.
(ii) Scientific or Critical Realism (in the older sense). This is the more reflective realism suggested by the natural sciences and given classic expression by John Locke. It accepts the independent existence of the external world but distinguishes primary qualities (extension, shape, number, motion, solidity) which really belong to the object, from secondary qualities (colour, sound, taste, smell, temperature) which are partly contributed by the constitution of our sense organs. Science gradually corrects the picture given by ordinary perception.
(iii) Neo-Realism. This is the early twentieth-century revival of realism associated with G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and Samuel Alexander in Britain, and with Perry, Holt, Marvin, Montague, Pitkin and Spaulding in America. Neo-Realism rejects every form of mental intermediary and holds that the object is directly presented in consciousness, so that knowing is an immediate awareness of the real object itself.
(iv) Critical Realism (in the modern sense). This is the realism of Santayana, Drake, Sellars, Lovejoy, Pratt, Rogers and Strong, formulated in their Essays in Critical Realism of 1920. The Critical Realists agree that the object is independent of the mind but argue that it is known through the medium of an idea, essence or sense-datum, which represents the object without being identical with it. This view is better able than Neo-Realism to account for illusion and error.
These four types form a graded series, each more sophisticated than the last, but all united in the basic realist thesis that the object exists independently of the knowing mind.
45. Trace the development of Realism in Western philosophy from Aristotle to the twentieth century.
Answer: The development of Western Realism may be traced through five major stages.
(i) Greek beginning — Aristotle. Realism in the Western tradition begins with Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), who broke with the transcendent idealism of his teacher Plato. Aristotle held that the universal exists in and through the particular, that matter and form are inseparable, and that the true objects of knowledge are the concrete substances of the natural world. He founded the empirical sciences and gave Realism its first systematic philosophical defence.
(ii) British empiricism — John Locke. In the seventeenth century John Locke (1632-1704) revived Realism within modern philosophy. He argued that all knowledge is derived from experience, distinguished primary from secondary qualities, defended material substance and laid the foundation of the modern doctrine of representative perception.
(iii) Scottish common sense — Thomas Reid. In the eighteenth century Thomas Reid (1710-1796) defended Realism against the scepticism of Hume and the idealism of Berkeley by appealing to the principles of common sense, holding that the external object is directly given in perception.
(iv) The New Realism of 1912. The early twentieth century saw a powerful revival of Realism in the joint movement of Moore and Russell in Britain and of Perry, Holt and Marvin in America. The American group’s volume The New Realism (1912) defended the direct presentation of the object in consciousness.
(v) The Critical Realism of 1920. A second group, including Santayana, Drake, Sellars and others, published Essays in Critical Realism in 1920, restoring the doctrine of representative perception within a realist framework.
From Aristotle’s natural substances through Locke’s primary qualities to the New and Critical Realisms of the twentieth century, the Western realist tradition has steadily refined the central conviction that being is prior to and independent of knowing.
46. Discuss the realist tendencies in Indian philosophy.
Answer: Realism is not a Western monopoly. Several major schools of Indian philosophy are realist in their basic standpoint, although they differ on details.
(i) Charvaka. The Charvaka or Lokayata school is the materialistic realism of ancient India. It accepts as real only what is given to sense-perception, holds that the world is composed of the four material elements (earth, water, fire and air), and treats consciousness as a by-product of these elements when combined in the body.
(ii) Nyaya-Vaisheshika. The combined school of Gautama and Kanada is the classical example of pluralistic Realism in India. It enumerates seven independently real categories — substance, quality, action, generality, particularity, inherence and non-existence — and treats the physical world as a combination of eternal atoms.
(iii) Sautrantika and Vaibhasika. Both are realist Buddhist schools. The Vaibhasika defends direct realism, holding that external objects are directly perceived. The Sautrantika defends indirect or representative realism, holding that the object is inferred from the idea it produces in the mind.
(iv) Mimamsa. The Mimamsa school of Jaimini, in its Bhatta and Prabhakara branches, defends the independent reality of the external world, of individual souls and of the dharmic order revealed in the Vedas.
(v) Jaina. The Jaina school is realist and pluralistic. It divides reality into the living (jiva) and the non-living (ajiva), and through the doctrines of anekantavada, nayavada and syadvada it recognises the many-sided independent reality of every existing thing.
These five schools, taken together, show that the realist conviction that the world exists independently of the knowing mind is as deeply rooted in Indian thought as it is in Western thought.
47. Explain the arguments for and against Realism.
Answer: Arguments for Realism. (i) Argument from common sense: the natural conviction of all mankind is that the world existed long before our minds came into being and will continue to exist long after our minds have disappeared. (ii) Argument from science: every empirical science presupposes that its objects are independently real; physics, chemistry, biology and history would all collapse if their objects were mere mental constructions. (iii) Argument from publicity and constancy: the world is the same for all observers and remains the same when no one is observing it; this is intelligible only if the world is independent of any individual mind. (iv) Argument from error: there can be error only if there is a real object against which the erroneous belief can be measured; idealism, by reducing the object to the mind, makes error unintelligible.
Arguments against Realism. (i) Argument from illusion and hallucination: if every act of awareness directly grasps an independently existing object, there should be no room for the perception of what is not really there; yet illusion, hallucination, dream and after-image are familiar facts. (ii) Argument from the mind-matter gap: if the mind is one kind of being and the material object is another, it is hard to see how the one can ever come into cognitive contact with the other. (iii) Argument from the inseparability of object and knowing: the moment we try to think of an unknown object we are already knowing it; the so-called independent object is therefore inseparable from some knowing mind, as the idealist insists. (iv) Argument from the secondary qualities: if colour, sound, taste, smell and temperature depend on the perceiver, why should not extension, shape and motion equally depend on the perceiver?
On balance the arguments for Realism remain stronger in the practical and scientific sphere, while the arguments against Realism push the philosopher toward the more refined forms of Critical Realism and beyond.
48. Compare and contrast Realism with Idealism.
Answer: Realism and Idealism are the two great rival theories of the nature of reality. They agree on the data of experience but disagree on its interpretation.
(i) On the nature of reality: Realism holds that ultimate reality is the material or objective world, existing in itself; Idealism holds that ultimate reality is mind, spirit or self.
(ii) On the existence of objects: for the realist, objects exist independently of any mind; for the idealist, objects exist only in or through some mind.
(iii) On the relation of knowing: the realist treats this relation as external — knowing does not affect the known; the idealist treats it as internal — to be is to be known or to be knowable.
(iv) On the priority of being and knowing: Realism gives priority to being; Idealism gives priority to knowing or to thought.
(v) On the source of qualities: Realism locates qualities (at least primary qualities) in the object; Idealism locates them in the perceiving mind.
(vi) On error and illusion: Idealism explains error easily as a defect of the mind; Realism finds error harder to explain because every awareness should grasp a real object.
(vii) On scientific method: Realism is the natural philosophy of the empirical sciences; Idealism is more congenial to the moral, religious and aesthetic sphere.
(viii) On supporters: Realism is supported by Aristotle, Locke, Reid, Moore, Russell, Alexander, Perry, Holt, Santayana and the Indian Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Charvaka, Sautrantika, Vaibhasika, Mimamsa and Jaina schools; Idealism is supported by Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Bradley and the Indian Advaita Vedanta and Yogachara schools.
Although the two theories are sharply opposed, contemporary philosophy increasingly recognises that each captures a partial truth and that an adequate philosophy must do justice to both the independence of the world and the constructive role of the mind.
49. Discuss the educational implications of Realism.
Answer: The educational implications of Realism flow naturally from its central thesis that the world is real, knowable and independent of the mind.
(i) Aim of education. The aim of education, according to Realism, is to acquaint the child with the real world of nature and society and to enable the child to live successfully in that world. Education is preparation for life, and life is lived in the real world.
(ii) Curriculum. The realist curriculum gives priority to subjects which describe the real world: natural sciences (physics, chemistry, biology), mathematics, geography, history, economics, civics and the practical arts. Literature and art are valued for the picture of human life they provide. Subjects are organised as objective bodies of knowledge.
(iii) Methods of teaching. Realism prefers the methods of observation, experimentation, demonstration, field work and laboratory work to mere verbal instruction. The child should learn by direct contact with things — through visits, excursions, projects and use of audio-visual aids.
(iv) The teacher. The teacher is regarded as a guide who introduces the child to the real world, who is well-grounded in the subject and capable of correcting the child’s errors. The teacher is neither the centre of all activity (as in idealism) nor a mere observer (as in extreme naturalism), but a knowledgeable mediator.
(v) The pupil. The pupil is regarded as a real being living in a real world, with senses, mind and body which must be cultivated together so that he or she can grasp objective truth.
(vi) Discipline. Realism favours regulated discipline based on the natural and social consequences of conduct, rather than either harsh imposition or complete freedom.
(vii) School. The school is treated as a miniature society where the child can learn the ways of the real world through orderly cooperation, scientific work and contact with the community.
Through these emphases, Realism has shaped most of the modern systems of formal education, especially in the natural sciences and in vocational training.
Additional Important Questions and Answers
A. Multiple Choice Questions (1 mark)
1. The word “Realism” is derived from the Latin word —
(a) res only (b) realis (c) realitas (d) verus
Answer: (b) realis.
2. According to Realism, the object of knowledge —
(a) depends on the mind (b) is created by the mind (c) is independent of the mind (d) is identical with the mind
Answer: (c) is independent of the mind.
3. The opposite theory of Realism is —
(a) Naturalism (b) Idealism (c) Pragmatism (d) Existentialism
Answer: (b) Idealism.
4. Which of the following is a supporter of Realism?
(a) Berkeley (b) Hegel (c) Locke (d) Plato
Answer: (c) Locke.
5. The first systematic realist of the Western world is —
(a) Plato (b) Aristotle (c) Descartes (d) Kant
Answer: (b) Aristotle.
6. The distinction between primary and secondary qualities was made by —
(a) Aristotle (b) Locke (c) Russell (d) Reid
Answer: (b) Locke.
7. Which of the following is a primary quality?
(a) Colour (b) Sound (c) Shape (d) Taste
Answer: (c) Shape.
8. Which of the following is a secondary quality?
(a) Extension (b) Number (c) Motion (d) Colour
Answer: (d) Colour.
9. The New Realism movement was launched in the year —
(a) 1903 (b) 1912 (c) 1920 (d) 1932
Answer: (b) 1912.
10. The Critical Realism movement was launched in the year —
(a) 1903 (b) 1912 (c) 1920 (d) 1939
Answer: (c) 1920.
11. Which of the following is NOT a Neo-Realist?
(a) Perry (b) Holt (c) Marvin (d) Hegel
Answer: (d) Hegel.
12. Which of the following is a Critical Realist?
(a) Santayana (b) Russell (c) Moore (d) Berkeley
Answer: (a) Santayana.
13. The author of The Refutation of Idealism (1903) is —
(a) G. E. Moore (b) Bertrand Russell (c) Samuel Alexander (d) R. B. Perry
Answer: (a) G. E. Moore.
14. Which Indian school is regarded as the classical example of pluralistic Realism?
(a) Advaita Vedanta (b) Yogachara (c) Nyaya-Vaisheshika (d) Madhyamika
Answer: (c) Nyaya-Vaisheshika.
15. Which Indian school is materialistic and realist?
(a) Mimamsa (b) Charvaka (c) Sankhya (d) Yoga
Answer: (b) Charvaka.
16. The Sautrantika and Vaibhasika are realist schools of —
(a) Hinduism (b) Jainism (c) Buddhism (d) Sikhism
Answer: (c) Buddhism.
17. The Jaina theory which recognises that an object can be truly described from many different standpoints is —
(a) syadvada only (b) nayavada only (c) anekantavada (d) advaitavada
Answer: (c) anekantavada.
18. Naive Realism is also called —
(a) Critical Realism (b) Common-sense Realism (c) Neo-Realism (d) Scientific Realism
Answer: (b) Common-sense Realism.
19. According to Realism, the relation between knowledge and object is —
(a) internal (b) external (c) identical (d) imaginary
Answer: (b) external.
20. The Scottish philosopher who defended common-sense Realism is —
(a) Hume (b) Locke (c) Reid (d) Berkeley
Answer: (c) Reid.
B. Fill in the Blanks (1 mark)
1. The word “Realism” is derived from the Latin word _____ meaning “thing”.
Answer: res (through realis).
2. According to Realism, the object of knowledge has _____ existence.
Answer: independent.
3. The opposite theory of Realism is _____.
Answer: Idealism.
4. _____ is regarded as the first systematic realist of the Western world.
Answer: Aristotle.
5. The distinction between primary and secondary qualities was made by _____.
Answer: John Locke.
6. Extension, shape, number, motion and solidity are examples of _____ qualities.
Answer: primary.
7. Colour, sound, taste, smell and temperature are examples of _____ qualities.
Answer: secondary.
8. The New Realism movement was launched in the year _____.
Answer: 1912.
9. The Critical Realism movement was launched in the year _____.
Answer: 1920.
10. The Indian school of pluralistic Realism is the _____ school.
Answer: Nyaya-Vaisheshika.
11. The materialistic realist school of Indian philosophy is the _____ school.
Answer: Charvaka (Lokayata).
12. The Buddhist school which holds direct realism is the _____ school.
Answer: Vaibhasika.
13. The Buddhist school which holds indirect or representative realism is the _____ school.
Answer: Sautrantika.
14. The British philosopher who wrote The Refutation of Idealism in 1903 was _____.
Answer: G. E. Moore.
15. The realist who founded the Scottish School of Common Sense was _____.
Answer: Thomas Reid.
C. True or False (1 mark)
1. Realism holds that objects exist only when they are perceived.
Answer: False. Realism holds that objects exist independently of perception.
2. Idealism is the opposite theory of Realism.
Answer: True.
3. Aristotle is regarded as the first systematic realist of the Western world.
Answer: True.
4. Locke distinguished between primary and secondary qualities.
Answer: True.
5. Colour and sound are primary qualities according to Locke.
Answer: False. Colour and sound are secondary qualities.
6. The New Realism movement was launched in 1920.
Answer: False. It was launched in 1912; the Critical Realism movement was launched in 1920.
7. Santayana is a Critical Realist.
Answer: True.
8. Russell, Moore and Alexander are Neo-Realists.
Answer: True.
9. The Charvaka school of Indian philosophy is idealist.
Answer: False. The Charvaka school is materialistic and realist.
10. The Vaibhasika school holds direct realism while the Sautrantika holds indirect realism.
Answer: True.
11. The Nyaya-Vaisheshika is a pluralistic realist school of Indian philosophy.
Answer: True.
12. According to Realism, knowing creates the object.
Answer: False. According to Realism, knowing only reveals the object; it does not create it.
13. According to Naive Realism, the world is exactly as it appears to the senses.
Answer: True.
14. Critical Realism holds that the object is directly presented in consciousness.
Answer: False. That is the view of Neo-Realism. Critical Realism holds that the object is known through the medium of an idea or sense-datum.
15. Realism is the working philosophy of the empirical sciences.
Answer: True.
D. Additional Short and Long Questions
1. Why is Realism called the philosophy of common sense?
Answer: Realism is called the philosophy of common sense because its basic thesis — that the world of physical things, of other persons and of past events exists independently of our awareness of it — is the natural and unreflective conviction of every ordinary person. The farmer ploughing the field, the trader counting his goods, the scientist measuring his specimen and the historian studying his documents all proceed on the assumption that the objects of their work are really there. This common-sense conviction is the starting point of Realism, and a theory which accepts it without distortion is naturally called the philosophy of common sense.
2. Why is the theory of “representative perception” associated with Realism?
Answer: The theory of representative perception is the doctrine, classically formulated by John Locke, that we do not perceive external objects directly but only through the medium of ideas which represent them in the mind. The theory is realist because it accepts the independent existence of the external object, but it is not the simplest form of Realism because it admits an intermediary between the mind and the object. The Sautrantika school of Indian Buddhism, the Critical Realism of Santayana and Sellars, and the indirect realism of much of modern philosophy are all variants of representative Realism.
3. Why is Aristotle regarded as a realist while Plato is regarded as an idealist?
Answer: Plato held that the truly real beings are the eternal Forms or Ideas which exist in a transcendent intelligible world apart from the changing world of sense; the things of the visible world are only imperfect copies of these Forms. Plato is therefore an idealist. Aristotle, his pupil, rejected this separation of the Forms from the things. He held that the universal exists in and through the particular, that matter and form are inseparable in nature, and that the proper objects of knowledge are the concrete substances of the visible world. Aristotle is therefore a realist who roots philosophy in the careful observation of the natural world.
4. Distinguish between primary qualities and secondary qualities with examples.
Answer: John Locke distinguishes two kinds of qualities in every material object. Primary qualities are those which really belong to the object itself, which the object cannot lose without ceasing to be a body, and our ideas of which resemble the qualities themselves. Examples are extension, shape, number, motion, rest and solidity. Secondary qualities are those which are not really in the object as we perceive them; they are powers in the object to produce certain sensations in us through the action of the primary qualities of its minute particles on our sense organs. Our ideas of secondary qualities do not resemble anything in the object itself. Examples are colour, sound, taste, smell and temperature. Thus the size and shape of a cup are primary qualities of the cup, while its red colour and metallic taste are secondary qualities.
5. State the main differences between Naive Realism and Critical Realism.
Answer: (i) On the appearance of the world: Naive Realism holds that the world is exactly as it appears to the senses, whereas Critical Realism holds that the world is in many respects different from its appearance and is known through the medium of ideas or sense-data. (ii) On qualities: Naive Realism treats all the perceived qualities of an object as objective, whereas Critical Realism distinguishes primary qualities (which really belong to the object) from secondary qualities (which depend partly on the perceiver). (iii) On illusion and error: Naive Realism cannot explain illusion, hallucination and error, since on its view the senses always reveal the object as it is; Critical Realism explains illusion and error by saying that the medium of representation may sometimes fail to correspond exactly to the object. (iv) On supporters: Naive Realism is the view of the unreflective person, while Critical Realism is the considered view of philosophers like Locke, Santayana, Drake and Sellars.
6. Why did the Critical Realists of 1920 reject the Neo-Realism of 1912?
Answer: The Critical Realists of 1920 — Santayana, Drake, Sellars, Lovejoy, Pratt, Rogers and Strong — accepted the basic realist conviction of the Neo-Realists of 1912 that the external world is independent of the mind. They rejected, however, the Neo-Realist doctrine that the object is directly presented in consciousness without any mental intermediary. They argued that this doctrine could not satisfactorily explain illusion, hallucination, dream and error: if every act of awareness directly grasps an independently existing object, why should the magician’s trick deceive us, why should the bent stick in water look bent when it is straight, why should we have vivid dreams of things that are not there? To make sense of these familiar facts the Critical Realists restored the older doctrine that the external object is known through the medium of an idea, essence or sense-datum which represents the object without being identical with it.
7. State briefly the contribution of G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell to twentieth-century Realism.
Answer: G. E. Moore (1873-1958) is generally regarded as the founder of twentieth-century Realism. In his famous essay The Refutation of Idealism (1903) he attacked the Berkeleyan principle esse est percipi (“to be is to be perceived”) and argued that the act of awareness is always distinct from the object of awareness, so that the object cannot be reduced to the mental act. Bertrand Russell (1872-1970), in his The Problems of Philosophy (1912) and many later works, defended the independent existence of physical objects, distinguished knowledge by acquaintance from knowledge by description, and developed a logical analysis of perception which fitted naturally into a realist framework. Together Moore and Russell broke the dominance of Hegelian idealism in British philosophy and prepared the way for the New Realism of 1912.
8. What is the place of Samuel Alexander in the realist tradition?
Answer: Samuel Alexander (1859-1938), an Australian-born British philosopher and a contemporary of Moore and Russell, gave Realism its most ambitious metaphysical formulation in his great work Space, Time and Deity (1920). He held that Space-Time is the fundamental matrix of reality from which all qualities and beings emerge, that the mind is one of the emergent qualities of space-time, and that the act of knowing is a “compresence” or togetherness of mind and object in space-time. By treating mind as one natural reality among others, Alexander defended Realism in a thorough-going way and connected it with the doctrine of emergent evolution.
9. Why is the Charvaka school regarded as the most extreme form of Realism in Indian philosophy?
Answer: The Charvaka school is regarded as the most extreme form of Realism in Indian philosophy because it accepts as real only what is perceivable by the senses and rejects every form of supersensible reality. According to the Charvaka, only the four material elements (earth, water, fire and air) really exist; consciousness is a temporary by-product of these elements when combined in the body, and there is no soul, no God, no past life and no next life. By denying everything but the visible material world, the Charvaka pushes Realism to its materialist extreme and makes sense-perception the only valid source of knowledge.
10. Bring out the educational significance of Realism for modern schooling.
Answer: The educational significance of Realism for modern schooling is enormous. (i) It justifies the central place of the natural sciences in the modern curriculum, since these sciences study the real world. (ii) It supports the use of laboratories, workshops, museums, gardens and field trips, since these provide direct contact with real things. (iii) It treats the textbook as a record of organised objective knowledge rather than a mere stimulus for imagination. (iv) It defends the role of the teacher as a source of authentic information rather than a mere companion to the child. (v) It encourages the use of audio-visual aids, demonstrations and experiments in place of mere verbal instruction. (vi) It links the school with the wider community by stressing that the school is a miniature society in which children are prepared for the real world. (vii) It supports vocational and technical education by emphasising the practical mastery of real materials. In all these ways Realism continues to shape the practice of modern schooling, especially in the natural-science and technical streams.
Glossary of Key Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Realism | The theory that the objects of knowledge have an independent existence outside and apart from the mind that knows them. |
| realis | The Latin source of the word “Realism”, from res meaning “thing”. |
| Idealism | The theory that ultimate reality is mental or spiritual and that objects depend on the mind for their existence — the opposite of Realism. |
| Naive Realism | The unreflective view that the world is exactly as it appears to the senses; also called Common-sense Realism. |
| Scientific Realism | The reflective view, suggested by science, which accepts the independent world but corrects the naive picture by distinguishing primary and secondary qualities. |
| Neo-Realism | The early twentieth-century form of Realism (Moore, Russell, Alexander, Perry, Holt, Marvin) which holds that the object is directly presented in consciousness. |
| Critical Realism | The 1920 form of Realism (Santayana, Drake, Sellars) which holds that the object is known through the medium of an idea or sense-datum. |
| Primary qualities | Qualities that really belong to the object — extension, shape, number, motion, rest, solidity (Locke). |
| Secondary qualities | Qualities that depend partly on the perceiver — colour, sound, taste, smell, temperature (Locke). |
| Representative perception | The doctrine that we know the external object only through the medium of an idea that represents it. |
| External relation | A relation that does not affect the inner being of either of its terms; the realist regards the relation of knowing as external. |
| Independent existence | Existence which does not depend on being known, perceived or thought. |
| Nyaya-Vaisheshika | The classical Indian school of pluralistic Realism, founded by Gautama and Kanada. |
| Charvaka (Lokayata) | The materialistic and realist school of ancient Indian philosophy. |
| Sautrantika | The Buddhist school which holds indirect or representative realism. |
| Vaibhasika | The Buddhist school which holds direct realism. |
| Mimamsa | The Vedic-realist school of Jaimini, defending the reality of the external world and of dharma. |
| Jaina | The pluralistic realist school which divides reality into jiva (living) and ajiva (non-living). |
| anekantavada | The Jaina doctrine of the many-sidedness of reality. |
| esse est percipi | The idealist principle “to be is to be perceived” (Berkeley) — rejected by all realists. |
Major Types of Realism — Reference Table
| Type | Central thesis | Principal supporters | Key date / work |
|---|---|---|---|
| Naive / Common-sense Realism | The world is exactly as it appears to the senses; perceived qualities really belong to objects. | The unreflective ordinary person; Thomas Reid in a refined form. | Reid, Inquiry into the Human Mind (1764) |
| Scientific / Critical Realism (Lockean) | The world is independent but its appearance is partly due to the perceiver; primary qualities are objective, secondary qualities subjective. | John Locke; later British empiricists. | Locke, Essay concerning Human Understanding (1690) |
| Neo-Realism | The object is directly presented in consciousness without any mental intermediary. | G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, Samuel Alexander; American group — R. B. Perry, E. B. Holt, W. T. Marvin, W. P. Montague, W. B. Pitkin, E. G. Spaulding. | The New Realism (1912) |
| Critical Realism (twentieth century) | The object is independent of the mind but known through the medium of an idea, essence or sense-datum. | George Santayana, Durant Drake, R. W. Sellars, A. O. Lovejoy, J. B. Pratt, A. K. Rogers, C. A. Strong. | Essays in Critical Realism (1920) |
| Indian — Charvaka (Lokayata) | Only the four material elements are real; consciousness is a by-product of matter. | Brihaspati and the Charvaka tradition. | Ancient (pre-classical) |
| Indian — Nyaya-Vaisheshika | Pluralistic realism: seven categories, eternal atoms, real souls and God. | Gautama (Nyaya), Kanada (Vaisheshika). | Classical period |
| Indian — Sautrantika | External objects are independently real but known only indirectly through ideas. | Sautrantika Buddhists. | Classical period |
| Indian — Vaibhasika | External objects are independently real and directly perceived. | Vaibhasika Buddhists. | Classical period |
| Indian — Mimamsa | The world, the soul and the dharmic order revealed in the Vedas are independently real. | Jaimini, Kumarila Bhatta, Prabhakara. | Classical period |
| Indian — Jaina | Pluralistic realism: living and non-living substances; many-sided reality (anekantavada). | Mahavira and the Jaina acharyas. | Ancient (pre-classical) |
Realism vs Idealism — Comparison Table
| Point of comparison | Realism | Idealism |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate reality | Material or objective world existing in itself. | Mind, spirit or self. |
| Existence of objects | Independent of any mind. | Dependent on or constituted by mind. |
| Relation of knowing | External — knowing does not affect the known. | Internal — to be is to be known or knowable. |
| Priority | Being is prior to knowing. | Knowing (or thought) is prior to being. |
| Source of qualities | Qualities (at least primary) belong to the object. | Qualities are projected by the mind. |
| Status of common sense | Confirmed and refined. | Criticised as superficial. |
| Explanation of error | Difficult — every awareness should grasp a real object. | Easy — error is a defect of the mind. |
| Suitability for science | The natural philosophy of empirical sciences. | More congenial to ethics, religion, art. |
| Western supporters | Aristotle, Locke, Reid, Moore, Russell, Alexander, Perry, Holt, Santayana. | Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Fichte, Hegel, Bradley. |
| Indian supporters | Charvaka, Nyaya-Vaisheshika, Sautrantika, Vaibhasika, Mimamsa, Jaina. | Advaita Vedanta, Yogachara Buddhism. |
| Educational stress | Facts, sciences, observation, experiment. | Values, ideals, self-realisation, moral training. |
| Famous slogan | “To be is to be in itself” (esse est in re). | “To be is to be perceived” (esse est percipi). |
This completes our study of Class 11 Logic and Philosophy Chapter 14: Realism. Make sure you can state the meaning and etymology of the word, list the four main types of Realism with their principal supporters and key dates, distinguish primary and secondary qualities, name the realist schools of Indian philosophy, present at least three arguments for and two arguments against Realism, and draw a clear comparison between Realism and Idealism. Mastery of these points will prepare you well for both the very-short and the long-answer questions in your ASSEB Class 11 final examination, and will also lay the foundation for the next chapter on Idealism.