Idealism
Reality is fundamentally mind, spirit, or consciousness.
Idealism in philosophy, also known as philosophical idealism or metaphysical idealism, is the set of metaphysical perspectives asserting that, most fundamentally, reality is equivalent to mind, spirit, or consciousness; that reality or truth is entirely a mental construct; or that ideas are the highest type of reality or have the greatest claim to being considered 'real.' Because there are different types of idealism, it is difficult to define the term uniformly. Idealism has been defended in Indian philosophy, such as in Vedanta and Shaiva Pratyabhijña thought, and in some streams of Mahayana Buddhism, such as the Yogācāra school. In the West, its roots trace back to Plato in ancient Greece, and it was revived and transformed in the early modern period by Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism.
- field
- Philosophy
- known_for
- Asserting that reality is fundamentally mental or idea-based
- origin_term
- From Latin idea, from Ancient Greek idea (ἰδέα) from idein (ἰδεῖν), meaning 'to see'
Lore & Background
Idealism encompasses a range of metaphysical perspectives that prioritize mind, spirit, or consciousness as the fundamental basis of reality. In Indian philosophy, early defenses appear in Vedanta and Shaiva Pratyabhijña thought, which argue for an all-pervading consciousness as the true nature and ground of reality. Mahayana Buddhism's Yogācāra school also advanced a 'mind-only' (cittamatra) philosophy based on analysis of subjective experience. In the West, Plato proposed that absolute, unchanging, timeless ideas constitute the highest form of reality, a view later revived and transformed by Immanuel Kant's transcendental idealism, which argued that our knowledge of reality is completely based on mental structures.
Reader's Guide
Idealism's significance lies in its challenge to materialism and physicalism, asserting the primacy of consciousness as the origin and prerequisite of all phenomena. Epistemologically, it rejects the possibility of knowing any thing independent of mind; ontologically, it asserts that the existence of all things depends upon the mind. Idealism came under attack from proponents of analytic philosophy such as G. E. Moore and Bertrand Russell, as well as from new realists and Marxists. However, many aspects and paradigms of idealism still have a large influence on subsequent philosophy. The distinction between ontological idealism (reality itself is mental) and epistemological idealism (knowledge is based on mental structures) is central, with thinkers such as Berkeley, Hegel, and Bradley representing ontological forms, while Kant and Neo-Kantians represent epistemological forms.
Did You Know?
- Indian philosophy contains some of the first defenses of idealism, such as in Vedanta and Shaiva Pratyabhijña thought.
- In the West, idealism traces its roots back to Plato, who proposed that absolute, unchanging, timeless ideas constitute the highest form of reality.
- A. C. Ewing defined idealism as the view that there can be no physical objects existing apart from some experience, including the experience of a God such as Berkeley postulates.
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