Optimists commonly report a higher availability of supportive others and more received social support than pessimists. However, these results are silent on the question of whether this effect is due to an overly optimistic view on their social environment or whether the social environment actually provides optimists with more support than pessimists. Accordingly, the present study tested in an ...

The social concepts of optimism, pessimism, and realism were investigated by assessing the prototypical acts (thoughts, feelings, goals, and actions) that laypersons assign to optimists, pessimists, and realists responding to a controllable and an uncontrollable situation. Optimists and realists, but not pessimists, were seen as adjusting their behavior to the situation. However, whereas optimi...

Are moral terms semantically plastic—that is, would very slight changes in our patterns of use have shifted their meanings? This is a delicate question for moral realists. A 'yes' answer seems to conflict with the sorts of intuitions that support realism; but a 'no' answer seems to require a semantics that involves hefty metaphysical commitments. This tension can be illustrated by thinking abou...

In this article, I will view realist and non-realist accounts of scientific models within the larger context of the cultural significance of scientific knowledge. I begin by looking at the historical context and origins of the problem of scientific realism, and claim that it is originally of cultural and not only philosophical, significance. The cultural significance of debates on the epistemol...

We discuss V.P. Belavkin’s approach to the measurement problem encapsulated in his theory of eventum mechanics (as presented in his 2007 survey). In particular, we show its relation to ideas based on superselection and interaction with the environment developed by N.P. Landsman (1995, and more recent papers). Landsman writes “those believing that the classical world exists intrinsically and abs...

In this paper, I outline a disjunctivist proposal for understanding the intentionality of perceptions and hallucinations within naïve realist framework. For case genuine perceptual experience, realists can endorse version view that their is phenomenally-grounded: experiences have in virtue being relations conscious acquaintance to aspects mind-independent environment. By contrast, dependently o...

Ned Block (2002) claims that there is “an epistemic tension” between two fairly widely held commitments: to phenomenal realism and to naturalism. Phenomenal realism is the view that (a) we are phenomenally consciousness, and that (b) there is no a priori or armchair sufficient condition for phenomenal consciousness that can be stated (noncircularly) in nonphenomenal terms (p.392). Block points ...

For much of the High Middle Ages, the conflict between Plato and Aristotle took the form of lengthy debates over the nature of universals. Philosophers of a Platonic bent came to be known as “Realists” because they argued that universals had a real existence apart from the specific objects in which they dwelled. For example, we observe birds of many different shapes, sizes, and colors, but stil...

The basic question of ontology is “What exists?”. The basic question of metaontology is: are there objective answers to the basic question of ontology? Here ontological realists say yes, and ontological anti-realists say no. (Compare: The basic question of ethics is “What is right?”. The basic question of metaethics is: are there objective answers to the basic question of ethics? Here moral rea...