Posted: November 21st, 2023
Offer and evaluate one of the claims adduced by Loux in support of Metaphysical realism
Offer and evaluate one of the claims adduced by Loux in support of Metaphysical realism
One of the arguments that Loux presents in favor of metaphysical realism is the argument from the possibility of error. According to this argument, the fact that human beings can make mistakes about the nature of reality implies that there is a distinction between how things appear to us and how they really are. In other words, there is a gap between our representations of reality and reality itself. This gap, Loux claims, can only be explained by assuming that reality is independent of our minds and that it has a determinate structure that we can discover through rational inquiry. Loux argues that this view is more plausible than the alternative views of idealism, phenomenalism, or conventionalism, which deny the existence of a mind-independent reality or reduce it to our subjective experiences or linguistic conventions. Loux contends that these views cannot account for the possibility of error, since they either identify reality with our representations or make reality dependent on them. Therefore, Loux concludes that metaphysical realism is the best way to understand the nature of reality and our relation to it.