This essay is an extended research study that follows a previous, shorter essay that appeared in the Journal of Philosophy of Education (Italia 2016). That essay aimed to highlight the weaknesses of Jürgen Habermas' pragmatic approach to learning, suggesting, rather, an alternative and more realist account. However, the brevity required by an academic journal did not allow the author to fully develop: (a) an account of Habermas' approach to learning that extends through his philosophical production and (b) all of the implications of the author's realist approach to learning.