A Historical Perspective in Support of Direct Realism

In this paper I argue that Direct realism is less prone to internal incoherence as a theory of knowledge than alternative theories. The theory of Direct realism best grounds our capacity for cognition of the external world, whereas other epistemological theories claim to ground our capacity for cognition, but end in skepticism in the final analysis. I propose to show this contrast by bringing in different theories of a well-known Indirect realist, Bertrand Russell.  Illustrating this point mainly through Russell makes the approach purely historical in nature even when the paper includes a brief discussion of two theories in the current debate that support Direct realism.