Behavioral Pragmatism: Making A Place for Reality and Truth

摘要

For realists, absolute reality is independent in two senses of the term. In the first sense—which I dub —absolute reality is independent in that it exists whether or not anybody is present to perceive (or otherwise interact) with it. In the second sense—which I dub —absolute reality is independent in the sense that it is “ independently of how humans take it to be” (Khlentzos , p. 1; emphasis added). As Hilary Putnam explained, realists consider reality as having intrinsic independence because it is “as it is in itself, independent of perspective” (Putnam , p. x) and “determinate … independent of conceptual scheme” (Putnam , p . viii). More specifically, absolute reality has intrinsic independence in the sense that it contains objects traditionally identified as objects. Bird and Tobin ( ) explained that “to say that a kind is is to say that it corresponds to a grouping or ordering that does not depend on humans” (p. 1; emphasis in original).