Passing through Realism and Antirealism; Surveying Nelson Goodman’s Viewpoint of Irrealism

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Department of Philosophy and Wisdom. Faculty of Islamic Sciences and Research. Imam Khomeini International University. Qazvin. Iran

Abstract

The difference between realism and anti-realism occurs in the world of being and its relation to the human mind. Nelson Goodman does not consider this difference to be a real and genuine difference, and in the meantime he has chosen a third view and calls it "Irrealism". Goodman's view of unrealism is fully reflected in his theory of "globalization." According to this theory, there is no world independent of the mind, but man creates descriptions and versions with his own mind and language, and these versions each create their own world. This article first examines Goodman's general views on the subject of realism -anti-realism and the motives and roots of his unrealism. In elucidating Goodman's view, we have shown that he is influenced by the principles of pragmatism and that his position does not fit into the realism - anti-realism dichotomy. Then, by explaining the theory of globalization and the criticisms made against it, we have tried to respond to these criticisms as far as possible. Although Goodman does not acknowledge the existence of reality per se, he does not deny it, but ignores it. We have also examined the criticisms and shown that many of their answers are implicit in Goodman's statements. The most important critique is against the criterion for distinguishing the right versions from the wrong ones. In Goodman's view, the criterion for the rightfulness of a version is the "proportionality in practice", and contrary to critics' viewpoint, this criterion is, in fact, an objective and valid criterion.

Keywords

References

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