John Laird (1887–1946) was a Scottish philosopher who specialised in metaphysics and moral philosophy. In this early work, which was originally published in 1920, Laird set out to analyse some of the more perplexing problems of philosophical realism. The text includes a brief survey of philosophical realism at the beginning and critical notes throughout. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the works of Laird and the history of philosophy.

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION

Realism 1

A short retrospect: Arnauld and Reid 2

Assumptions 8

CHAPTER II. THE THINGS WE PERCEIVE

Perception, judgments of perception, and sensation 15

Direct perception 17

The theory of sensory atomism 18

Dr Ward's theory 25

Sign-facts and continuants 27

Perception and the discovery of an independent world 30

The perception of 'matter' 36

CHAPTER III. THINGS REMEMBERED AND THINGS EXPECTED

The 'specious present' 45

Immediate knowledge of the past and of the future 49

Analysis of memory: reproduction and recollection 51

The place of memory-images 55

CHAPTER IV. THE STUFF OF FANCY

Fancy and imagination 60

Images 61

Dream and waking 65

The elements of fancy: and their meaning 67

Constructive imaging : and psycho-analysis 75

Theory of fancy 81

CHAPTER V. THE WORLD OF COMMON BELIEF

Perception and judgment 83

Propositions about the world 86

The space and time of common belief 93

Causal interpretation 95

Error 103

CHAPTER VI. PRINCIPLES PAGE

General facts : and first principles 105

The order of their discovery 107

The being of categories and of universals 108

Unioervilia in re 115

Induction and pure logic 119

The law of parsimony 123

CHAPTER VII. VALUES

The value of things 125

Whether beauty is only delight 126

Whether morals are matter of feeling 135

Value and existence 144

CHAPTER VIII. THE MIND

The realistic theory of knowledge 149

The place of psychology 150

Consciousness 162

Consciousness and behaviour 166

The nature of consciousness 160

Introspection and its difficulties 102

The spiritual substance 172

Objections 173

Realism and the self 179

CHAPTER IX. THE LARGER OUTLOOK

The sufficiency of realism 180

Realism and the theory of probability 182

Realism in hypotheses 183

The methods of biology 186

Realism in the human sciences: and, first, economics 189

Historical knowledge and the philosophy of history 193

Finding and making in knowledge 201

Imagination and the world of art 204

Representative knowledge 209

Religion and mysticism 211

EPILOGUE

The vision of Thales 218

INDEX 223

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