Dictionary.net

the state of being actual or real; "the reality of his situation slowly dawned on him"

(philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that abstract concepts exist independent of their names

(philosophy) the philosophical doctrine that physical object continue to exist when not perceived

the state of being actual or real; "the reality of his situation slowly dawned on him"

As 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).

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.

Fidelity to nature or to real life; representation without idealization, and making no appeal to the imagination; adherence to the actual fact.

As 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).

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.

Fidelity to nature or to real life; representation without idealization, and making no appeal to the imagination; adherence to the actual fact.

In art and literature, the practice of presenting people and scenes as they actually exist; the doctrine that the objects that can be seen, touched, etc., are actual existences.

In art and literature the depicting of things as they are held really to exist, without reference to any ideal standard.

Philos. (1) The doctrine that the mind perceives real external objects and not merely its own impressions; opposed to idealism. (2) The doctrine that general conceptions, as mankind, whiteness, virtue, exist as realities, apart from individual objects; opposed to nominalism.

The doctrine that general terms represent real existences; the doctrine that we have an immediate perception of things external to us, and that they are as they seem; the tendency in art which seeks to apprehend and represent objects and things not in fanciful, but in their real, forms, as these actually appear to the perception and imagination of the artist.

The doctrines of the realists.

n. In scholastic philosophy, the theory that universal propositions or general descriptions of properties, qualities, &c., in a genus, class, or species, do really exist apart from the actual embodiment of them in the family, tribe, or individual-opposed to nominalism ;-in modern philosophy, the system which conceives of all things external to human consciousness, whether material or mental, as existing independently of our perceptions or thoughts op-posed to the idealism of Berkeley ; - also, a system which regards matter as the sole cause, development, and consummation of all existence, animate or inanimate materialism.