when you agree with something too much that the word real isn’t enough you gotta pull out the “Realism”
by mari !! May 6, 2024
Get the Realism mug.it is what it is, you force someone to drink one night. You drink the next, its realism. Its just the law of the jungle.
by Feef Queef November 26, 2021
Get the realism mug.The position that our internal cognitive representations (concepts, schemas, mental models) accurately mirror the external world. Our minds are like maps that, while not perfect, are fundamentally aligned with the territory. Truth is about correspondence between thought and reality, and through reason and perception, we can progressively refine our maps to be more accurate.
Cognitive Realism believes that the concept of "tree" in your mind, while simplified, corresponds to an actual class of objects with shared properties (roots, trunk, leaves) that exist independently of you. Scientific models, like the heliocentric solar system, are triumphantly realistic maps that displaced less accurate ones (geocentrism). When you learn a new fact and update your belief, you're moving your cognitive map closer to reality.
by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Get the Cognitive Realism mug.The belief that the entities, laws, and structures described by successful scientific theories (like electrons, natural selection, or gravitational waves) are real, mind-independent features of the world, and that science progressively uncovers this objective truth. Theories may change, but they converge on an accurate description of reality "as it is."
Example: A scientific-epistemological realism believes that DNA existed and carried genetic information long before humans discovered it. The shift from Newtonian physics to Einsteinian relativity wasn't a change of arbitrary stories, but a closer approximation to the actual fabric of spacetime. When physicists talk about the Higgs boson, they're not just describing a useful calculation tool; they believe it's a real particle their instruments actually detected.
by Abzugal January 24, 2026
Get the Scientific-Epistemological Realism mug.The philosophical hypothesis that our perception of reality isn't a perfect mirror of the world, but a limited, processed construction built by our brains. It argues that our nervous systems act as a filter and an interpreter, shaping what we can see, hear, and understand. The "realism" part acknowledges an external world exists, but our access to it is always mediated by our cognitive machinery. This theory has a spectrum: a Weak Version (Cognitive Relativism) suggests our biology heavily influences our reality, while a Strong Version (Cognitive Determinism) argues it dictates and limits what reality can even be for us.
*Example: "Looking at a rainbow, Cognitive Realism kicks in. The rainbow 'out there' is just water droplets refracting white light. But my primate brain, equipped with only three types of color cones, constructs the bands of ROYGBIV. A mantis shrimp, with 16 color cones, would perceive a rainbow of unimaginable complexity. My reality isn't false, but it's a profoundly limited, biologically-determined sketch of what's actually there."*
by Abzunammu February 2, 2026
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