ABSTRACT
Scientific realism is the ontological position which claims that many of the entities postulated by scientists are real even though not apparent to the naked eye. Antirealism has undergone radical change and as we shall see there is hardly anyone today –with the possible exception of social constructivists – who in a strict sense adopts the ontological commitment of antirealism. Ian Hacking and Nancy Cartwright distinguish between theory realism and entity realism, and both reject realism with respect to theories while arguing for realism with respect to entities. Researchers, technicians, administrators and politicians contribute to the articulation of goals and to the advancement of research in directions beneficial to society. The strong ontological antirealist will claim that the text is semantically autonomous; a correct understanding of the text is wholly independent of the author's purposes in writing it. The author's literary intentions and her work exist in the world, and literary meaning is an interpretation of the connection between them.
