realiste

Realiste is the French term for an adherent of realism. In general usage, a realiste is someone who emphasizes the representation of reality and factual accuracy, often preferring unvarnished depictions over idealization. In philosophy, realism is a family of positions that maintain that certain aspects of reality exist independently of observers, with variants including naïve realism, scientific realism, and moral realism.

In art and literature, realism denotes a movement and style that aims to depict everyday life and social conditions without romantic embellishment. In 19th-century France, realistes such as Gustave Courbet and Honoré de Balzac sought to portray ordinary people and contemporary society with objectivity. Flaubert’s fiction and, later, Zola’s naturalism built on realist principles, emphasizing verisimilitude and social critique. Realism also influenced Russian literature with writers like Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, and persists in modern film and theater through works that foreground plausible situations and characters.

In science, scientific realism holds that scientific theories aim to describe both observable and unobservable aspects of the world, and that successful theories are approximately true. The term realiste can thus cross disciplines, but its usage is context-dependent, signaling a commitment to what is considered real or real-world representation rather than idealization or abstraction.