World-views and the world : a study of the role of linguistic frameworks in our knowledge of the real

Abstract

This work is a contribution to the debate between realism and relativism in metaphysics. Realism is the thesis that there is a unique real world which exists independently of our perceiving it and thinking about it. Furthermore, realism has it that the nature of the unique real world is as it is independently of how we perceive it to be, and of how our theories describe it. According to realism, to give a correct account of some constituent of the world, or of the world itself, is to present a God's Eye View of that constituent, or the world. There can only be one complete and correct account of the real world. The realist standpoint may also be referred to as the standpoint of objectivity, or as the externalist perspective.