Reality or Narrative? The Philosophical Battle Behind Western Chaos”

We must begin philosophy not with doubt, nor with ideas, but with a simple and undeniable fact:
we already know real things.
Before any theory, before any system, before any reflection—we are already in contact with reality. We see, we judge, we affirm: this is. Philosophy must begin here, or it loses the very ground it seeks to understand.
Realism, at its core, is rooted in the reality of being—the fact that things exist independently of our minds. It is not merely a theory among others, but a fundamental orientation of thought. It makes a twofold claim:

• Epistemological: we truly know things as they are (even if imperfectly)
• Metaphysical: things exist in themselves, not merely as constructions of consciousness

By contrast, idealism begins with a reversal: thought is made prior to being.
Reality becomes dependent on consciousness; knowledge begins not from things, but from ideas. The world is no longer something encountered—it is something mediated, interpreted, or even constructed.
This distinction is not merely academic. It is civilizational.
A realist culture assumes:

• truth can be known, even if never exhaustively
• reason can mediate disagreement
• moral norms correspond to human nature
• institutions are accountable to reality, not preference

From this foundation emerge:

• natural law
• objective ethics
• the possibility of stable political discourse

But when idealism takes hold, the consequences are profound.
Truth becomes narrative. Reality becomes framework-dependent. What is dissolves into how it is perceived.
The result is familiar:

• competing “truths”
• the erosion of shared rational ground
• the rise of subjectivism and relativism

In such a world, phrases like “my truth” and “my reality” are no longer rhetorical excess—they are philosophical conclusions. Even justice becomes unstable: if a judgment does not align with one’s perspective, it is dismissed as unjust.
We are no longer debating within a shared reality—we are competing between constructed ones.
This course will introduce the foundational alternative: realism, as articulated by Étienne Gilson.
We will follow a concise outline—The Realist Beginner’s Handbook—which distills the essential insights of his work. You need only read the outline provided. But what is at stake is far more than an outline: it is the recovery of reality itself.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XyjLIr4suyvrv6oKjMOA1STCgOUY0Z9Q?usp=drive_link