>
> Realism is pretty much a theoretically worked-out
> version of common sense.
>
For a really lovely refutation of this commonplace misconception, see Paul Churchland's little book, Scientific Realism and the Plasticity of Mind. "Perceptual" realism -- realism about trees, houses, cats, midsized objects generally -- might qualify as beefed up common sense, if we bear in mind that common sense is theoretical through and through. Scientific realism -- realism about the spacetime manifold, quarks and muons, genes and chromosomes -- has not a trace of common sense to it. jks
__________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com