ABSTRACT
Superficially it might seem that the contextualist’s relativity would be anathema to realism. One physicist has claimed, for example, that because different contexts permit inconsistent views of reality, it is less “damaging” to science to consider all such views as useful fictions than to consider them legitimate views of reality (Walter, 1983). If one’s interest is in understanding the link between perception and action, however, then such a position is problematic-certainly fictions cannot guide action effectively (Carello & Turvey, 1984). But can one assert that actions are guided by actual states of affairs and still allow that the actual state of affairs is X in one context and not X in a different context? In other words, can a realist be comfortable with contextualism?
