Anti-realists

Anti-realists are individuals or schools of thought that deny or question the objective existence of a reality independent of human perception, thought, or language. They believe that our understanding and knowledge are fundamentally shaped by our minds, social constructs, or language rather than reflecting a pre-existing external world. Anti-realism spans various philosophical fields including metaphysics, epistemology, and ethics and it is often contrasted with realism.

Anti-realists meaning with examples

• The philosophical debate between realists and anti-realists continues to shape our understanding of knowledge and truth. Some anti-realists propose that scientific theories are simply useful tools for predicting observations, not accurate representations of an underlying reality. They often challenge the idea of objective truth.
• Within ethics, anti-realists argue that moral values are subjective or socially constructed, rather than existing objectively. This view contrasts with moral realists who believe that moral truths exist independent of human opinion or cultural norms. anti-realists might deny objective right and wrong.
• In the field of mathematics, anti-realists, such as constructivists, might claim that mathematical objects, such as numbers or geometric shapes, are not pre-existing entities but are constructed through our mental operations and proofs. These views dispute the idea that mathematical theorems describe external facts.
• Many postmodern thinkers are considered anti-realists due to their critiques of grand narratives and their emphasis on the constructed nature of knowledge. They might argue that our understanding of history is heavily influenced by perspective. This means reality is constantly being remade by culture.
• The concept of truth is often central to the debate between realists and anti-realists. anti-realists might challenge the very notion of a correspondence between our beliefs and an external reality, which is a common tenet of realist philosophies, by arguing that it is impossible to know something external.