The Anthropocentrism of Anti-realism

The purpose of my paper is to discuss the issue of metaphysical anti-realism and its ‘anthropocentrism’, that is, the view according to which the species Homo sapiens is endowed with ontological pre-eminence over reality. The standard theory proposed by anti-realism suggests that one or more classes of objects depend on humans. This theory is contested by the fact – properly analyzed by Jacob von Uexküll (von Uexküll 1985) – that other animals perceive the same objects as we do and get acquainted with them. The idea underlying antirealism is that our way of perceiving reality is not only the best one, but also the only way possible. This incorrect belief is contested by modern science which shows how animals play the same role as humans in shaping the world (Darwin 1881), and furthermore, it represents a dangerous ethical drift that has to be firmly rejected, as I am going to affirm in the paper to follow.