REALISM

[noun] [U]Realism is a way of thinking and acting based on the facts of a situation and what appears to be possible, rather than on hopes for things which are unlikely to happen.In his decision to move his business into the school market he showed a shrewd, down-to-earth realism - schools always needed paper and books.Compare idealism at ideal (PRINCIPLE).(specialized) Paintings, films, books etc. that try to represent life as it really is are in the artistic tradition of realism.The anti-drugs adverts were shot using hand-held camera techniques to add to the gritty realism of the situations.(specialized) In science and philosophy, realism is the belief that objects continue to exist in the world even when no one is there to see them.Like some quantum theorists, Berkeley sought to undermine realism as a philosophical position.