Metaphysical Realism: A Conceptual Analysis

Abstract

Metaphysical realism is a common sense disposition that maintains that there exist objects in the world with their structure-defining properties, and that scientific theories try to explain reality exactly the way it is. The crucial question for this paper is whether the human mind does not make any contribution in the very art of knowing. Can we mirror reality with all its structure-defining properties without undue interference from our innate modes of perception? Can we unmask brute and hard facts about reality? It is the position of this paper, then, that from the ontological point of view there exists a world out there independently what we may conceive of it. But, then, from the epistemological point of view we can not easily assert that whatever scientific theories say about reality can never be refuted or viewed from different perspectives. To drive home our point, we employed simple methods of exposition and analysis.