Note that there are other ways of trying to understand or influence nature, such as religion, superstition and magic, which tend to have claims and results that are only believed by the faithful in such things (see: Wishful thinking), and that there are other ways of trying to understand or influence human beings, namely by art, intuition, imaginatively taking their place, or talking or living with them.

This Philosophical Dictionary is written mostly from a point of view that is fairly described as scientific realism, in the sense defined. See also: Natural Realism.