Philosophy Of Realism (Defination And Brief History)

Aristotle is credited with the development of realism. Realism is about viewing the world in
terms of what a person experiences through their senses. This is almost the opposite of idealism
and its focus on the mind. Realist focus on experiencing things through as you may have
guessed, experiences. Experiments in many ways are really just experiences people have had that
were conducted in a scientific manner.

Within education, realism can be seen through proponents of experimentalism which emphasizes
students have various experiences as part of their education. These experiences can be something
as simple as a field trip. Hands on activities in the classroom is another outgrowth of realist
thinking. Science is above the liberal arts because of its engagement with the real world in a
concrete manner. The goal of realism in education is to encourage active learning through
engaging as many senses as possible. Through the avenues of the senses learning takes place.

1 1. BUKIDNON STATE UNIVERSITY GRADUATE EXTERNAL STUDIES Surigao

City Study Center PHILOSOPHY OF REALISM DEFINITION AND BRIEF HISTORY
FCPA 201 - Socio-Philosophical Foundations DR. FELIMONITO S. MONTEROS
Professor JOHNY S. NATAD Masterand August 2009

2 2. WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY OF REALISM? From Wikepedia.com Contemporary

philosophical realism is the belief in a reality that is completely ontologically
independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc. Philosophers
who profess realism also typically believe that truth consists in a belief's correspondence
to reality. We may speak of realism with respect to other minds, the past, the future,
universals, mathematical entities (such as natural numbers), moral categories, the
material world, or even thought. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_realism)
From Dictionary.reference 1 The doctrine that universals have a real objective
existence. The doctrine that objects of sense perception have an existence independent
of the act of perception. The scholastic doctrine, opposed to nominalism, that universals
exist independently of their being thought. The modern philosophical doctrine, opposed
to idealism that physical objects exist independently of their being perceived. From
Encarta.msn 2 theory that things exist objectively: the theory that things such as
universals, moral facts, and theoretical scientific entities exist independently of people's
thoughts and perceptions theory of objectively existing world: the theory that there is an
objectively existing world, not dependent on our minds, and that people are able to
understand aspects of that world through perception BRIEF HISTORY OF
PHILOSOPHY OF REALISM A. ARISTOTLE (384 322 B.C) Short Biography: 3
Aristotle (Greek: , Aristotls) (384 BC 322 BC) was a Greek philosopher,
a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. He wrote on many subjects,
including physics, metaphysics, poetry, theater, music, logic, rhetoric, politics,
 government, ethics, biology and zoology. Founds the Lyceum in Athens 334 BCE,
starting rivalry between his school and the Academy. Wrote 27 Dialogues, for which he
was renowned in antiquity, and were considered the equal of Plato. Known to modern
world through his lecture notes Aristotles Organon is his contribution to logic and
reasoning - consisting of six books. Senses are source of knowledge. Man forms
universals, or categories, from many perceptions of like objects. 1
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/realism 2
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861700796/realism.html 3
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aristotle and Prof. D. Allen Dalton presentation Page 1
Definition of Philosophy of Realism & Its Brief History Prepared by: Johny S. Natad July
25 & August 1, 2009

2. WHAT IS PHILOSOPHY OF REALISM? From Wikepedia.com Contemporary

philosophical realism is the belief in a reality that is completely ontologically
independent of our conceptual schemes, linguistic practices, beliefs, etc.
Philosophers who profess realism also typically believe that truth consists in a
belief's correspondence to reality. We may speak of realism with respect to other
minds, the past, the future, universals, mathematical entities (such as natural
numbers), moral categories, the material world, or even thought.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophical_realism) From Dictionary.reference 1
The doctrine that universals have a real objective existence. The doctrine that
objects of sense perception have an existence independent of the act of perception.
The scholastic doctrine, opposed to nominalism, that universals exist
independently of their being thought. The modern philosophical doctrine, opposed
to idealism that physical objects exist independently of their being perceived. From
Encarta.msn 2 theory that things exist objectively: the theory that things such as
universals, moral facts, and theoretical scientific entities exist independently of
people's thoughts and perceptions theory of objectively existing world: the theory
that there is an objectively existing world, not dependent on our minds, and that
people are able to understand aspects of that world through perception

Realism in Epistemology
Realism is the view in metaphysics that the physical world truly exists, and is separate from or
our perception of it. With respect to epistemology, realism is the view that we directly perceive
the world as it is, or things in themselves, through our senses. The world inside our minds is
identical to the world as it is what we see, feel, taste, and so on, is accurately how the world is
Epistemological realism is a philosophical position, a subcategory of objectivism, holding that
what you know about an object exists independently of your mind. It opposes epistemological
idealism.

Epistemological realism is related directly to the correspondence theory of truth, which claims
that the world exists independently and innately to our perceptions of it. Our sensory data then
reflect or correspond to the innate world.

Discipline

Realists emphasize moral and religious education of the child. For this type of education,
discipline is essential and a pre-requisite condition. But what type of discipline? They advocate
self-discipline to effect smooth adjustment of the child with external environment, the teacher
only inspiring and encouraging sympathetically.

According to Commines the school should be like the lap of mother full of affection, love and
sympathy. In short, Realists advocate a synthetic form of impressionistic and emancipator forms
of discipline.

What is the Role of Teachers According to

Realists?
Article shared by Senthil Kumar

The role of teacher according to Realists is neither as high and neither important as the Idealists
advocate nor as negligible as the Naturalists speak out, it is fairly important.

The teacher, according to Realists, is expected to have full knowledge of the content and the
needs of children.

Not only this, he must also be capable to present before children the content in a clear and
intelligible way by employing psychological and scientific methods.

It is the duty of teacher to tell children about scientific discoveries, researches and inventions by
others in various fields of knowledge. He himself should also be engaged in some research work
on experimentation.
At the same time he must inspire children to undertake wide and close observation and
experimentation themselves so that they are able to find out new facts. Not only this, the teacher
must understand well the amount of knowledge to be provided to each child at a specific time.

The realist teacher is of a dual personality. As a realist he recognises all the demands of the
realist pupil. He feels that every aspect of teaching should be dominated by reality. His sole aim
as a teacher is to place before the pupil the clear, distinct and systematic knowledge of science in
an impersonal manner. He will regard knowledge as one and universal. To him it knows no
bounds of colour, race and religion. Therefore, the realist teacher would not like to call French or
German mathematics.

The realist teacher tries to present the knowledge of the subject matter before the pupil in such a
way as to make himself one with it. He himself becomes the voice of chemistry and mathematics
and speaks in the classroom to ears which are eager to receive it. He stands for truth.

He has great reverence for fact. Therefore, while presenting the voice of a subject he keeps his
personality away from it that he does not express his personal liking or disliking for particular
points. The realist teacher desires to make discoveries in his chosen fields and tries to
communicate the same to his pupils in an impersonal way.