The term realism is associated with complex layers of meaning. In general usage, it denotes objectivity, a matter-of-fact sense of reality, a pragmatic attitude focused on immediate benefit, and representations of empirical reality as it manifests itself directly. It has been a philosophical term since the Middle Ages, that is, in the Scholastic debate between realists and nominalists, the latter of whom viewed (conceptual) universals not as real existing things (realia) but only as names of things (nomina). In the early modern period it also became a category in aest…