by Hans Lenk (Universtaet Karlsruhe, Germany)

Grasping Reality addresses the methodology of a sophisticated realistic approach to scientific as well as everyday recognition by using schemes and interpretative constructs to analyze theories and the practice of recognition from a hypothesis-realistic vantage point.

The three main theses are: (1) Any “grasping” of real objects, processes, entities etc. is deeply dependent on scheme interpretations and interpretative constructs — in short, on using schemes and constructs; the same applies to any sophisticated actions encroaching on reality; (2) a sophisticated interpretation-dependent realism is sketched out and defended from a methodological, non-foundational, epistemological point of view called pragmatic realism; (3) the most provocative thesis is generalized from the role of the well-known preparationist interpretation of quantum theory to everyday knowledge — the interpretative structuring and preparing of the experimental make-up as known in quantum mechanics is not just a special case but the rather general case of gaining any knowledge in science and everyday recognition.

An appendix provides an overview regarding a realistic and pragmatic philosophy of technology, including the so-called new information technologies.