The Everyday Picture of the World and Naive Realism

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Johannes Haag
• Subject Area: Theoretical Philosophy
• Term: from 2017 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 389518284

In everyday life, we take for granted that there are ordinary objects like persons, tables, and stones with certain perceivable properties like color and form. Moreover, we think that these ordinary objects exist independently of us, that they are immediately accessible in visual experience, and that we can justify our beliefs about them on the basis of visual experience. Fundamental assumptions like these form the core of the set of (explicit or implicit) beliefs we will call the everyday picture (of the world).This project will thematize two sets of such fundamental assumptions: ontological and metaphysical assumptions on the one hand and assumptions about visual experience on the other hand. Two theories will be examined that try to do justice to the respective assumptions: metaphysical naive realism and experiential naive realism. It will be shown that metaphysical naive realism, while indeed successful in describing the ontological and metaphysical assumptions of the everyday picture, can soon be seen confronting its limits, since - in opposition to an opinion spread widely in the philosophical community - it cannot be expounded against the background of the current state of research in the natural sciences. However, we plan to examine whether at least elements of a naive-realistic ontology/metaphysics might turn out to be compatible with the development of natural science.Experiential naive realism, on the other hand, will be criticized because it cannot capture some of the most fundamental assumptions about visual experience we make in everyday life. It, consequently, turns out to be inadequate even within the constraints set by the everyday picture of the world. An alternative theory of visual experience will be developed that captures our everyday assumptions about visual experience and thereby incorporates some elements of experiential naive realism. The project as a whole is thus divided into two sub-projects: (a) Everyday Picture of the World and Metaphysical Naive Realism (b) Everyday Picture of the World and Experiential Naive Realism

• DFG Programme: Research Grants