Critical realism (philosophy of perception)

Critical realism is a type of philosophy that says we can use our senses to know and understand the world around us. When we look, touch, and hear something, we can use our senses to get more information and form an opinion – this is critical realism. It explains how our senses help us learn more about the world, but also how our senses can sometimes cause us to misunderstand or misinterpret a situation. For example, if you smell a bad smell coming from a room, you might think it's gross and not go in, but if you look more closely you might find out that it's really perfume and not a bad smell after all.