Hypertext Webster Gateway: "realism"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Realism \Re"al*ism\, n. [Cf. F. r['e]alisme.]
1. (Philos.)
(a) An opposed to nominalism, the doctrine that genera and
species are real things or entities, existing
independently of our conceptions. According to realism
the Universal exists ante rem (Plato), or in re
(Aristotle).
(b) As opposed to idealism, the doctrine that in sense
perception there is an immediate cognition of the
external object, and our knowledge of it is not
mediate and representative.
2. (Art & Lit.) Fidelity to nature or to real life;
representation without idealization, and making no appeal
to the imagination; adherence to the actual fact.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
realism
n 1: the attribute of accepting the facts of life and favoring
practicality and literal truth
2: the state of being actual or real: "the reality of his
situation slowly dawned on him" [syn: {reality}, {realness}]
[ant: {unreality}]
3: the philosophical doctrine that physical object continue to
exist when not perceived [syn: {naive realism}]
4: an artistic movement in 19th century France; artists and
writers strove for detailed realistic and factual
description [syn: {naturalism}]
5: the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist
independent of their names [syn: {Platonism}]
6: genre of art and literature that represents events and
social conditions as they actually are (without
idealization)
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