Idealism holds that the most basic unit of reality is conceptual rather than material. There are several types of idealism: subjective idealism views reality as constituted by consciousness and its contents; divine idealism sees reality as manifestations of God's mind; ontological idealism argues reality is made of ideas or concepts at its foundation; and epistemological idealism focuses on how the mind structures our understanding of reality. Idealism contrasts with materialism, which views the physical world as the only true reality and consciousness as a physical process in the brain.

1. IDEALISM
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2. IdealismDefinition
In popular usage, an idealist is someone who believes in high
ideals and strives to make them real, even though they may be
impossible. It’s often contrasted with pragmatist or realist, i.e.
someone whose goals are less ambitious but more achievable.
This sense of “idealism” is very different from the way the word
is used in philosophy. In philosophy, idealism is about the basic
structure of reality: idealists hold that the most basic “unit” of
reality is not material, but conceptual.
But what does that actually mean? What are people talking
about when they say that reality is conceptual rather than
material? Answers vary widely.

3. Types of Idealism
Idealism doesn’t have well-defined
sub-schools, but here are some labels
for the purpose of this article:
a. Subjective Idealism
b. Divine Idealism
c. Ontological Idealism
d. Epistemological Idealism

4. a. Subjective Idealism
For some idealists, it means that nothing is truly
real other than consciousness and its contents.
That is, when you look out on the world what
you are really seeing is a world created by the
mind. Perception, in other words, is reality. That
doesn’t mean that you’re stuck in your own
mind, though, since we’re lucky enough to have
other minds that we can communicate with.
Thus, the truth may lie somewhere in between
your mind and mine (but still not in any external
physical world). We can call this inter subjective
idealism.

5. b. Divine Idealism
Alternatively, the world may be seen
as manifestations of some other mind,
such as the mind of one God.
(However, remember that all of
physical reality would be contained in
the mind of God on this view — so
God would have to be a consciousness
outside of the physical multiverse!)

6. c. Ontological Idealism
Others don’t take it quite as far: they argue
that the material world exists, but that at
its most basic level it’s made out of ideas.
For example, some physicists believe that
the universe, at its most basic level, is
made of numbers. So scientific formulas
don’t just describe physical reality;
they are the physical reality. E=MC2, for
example, would be seen as a fundamental
aspect of reality which Einstein discovered,
rather than a description that he invented.

7. d. Epistemological Idealism
Maybe it doesn’t actually matter whether
there’s a physical world beyond the mind. After
all, the mind is our only tool
for understanding that world, and therefore all
of our perceptions and understandings will be
constrained by the structure of the mind. When
we try to understand that structure, we may not
be exploring the most basic truths of the
universe (as ontological idealists would claim);
rather, we’re just trying to understand the
human mechanisms and tools that make all
understanding possible.

8. Idealism also has a place in the analysis of history.
Historical idealists hold that human history can be
explained as the a process of ideas changing and
evolving, and that ideas shape human beings rather
than the other way around. This process, according to
historical idealism, will eventually reach a stage of
“complete expression,” when no more unfolding will be
possible. At this point, history will end as there will be
no more changes to human society (and, by extension,
human consciousness). Very few historians accept this
view today, since it seems that chaotic historical change
will go on forever; but in the past, many historians
believed that we would someday reach the end of
history.

9. Idealism vs. Materialism
The opposite of idealism is materialism, or
the view that reality is material instead of
conceptual. For materialists, the physical
world is the only true reality. Our thoughts
and perceptions are part of the material
world just like other objects.
Consciousness is a physical process in
which one chunk of matter (your brain)
interacts with another (the book, screen,
or sky that you’re looking at).

10. Idealism and materialism are both impossible to
prove or disprove, of course —
they’re falsifiable statements, which means
there’s no neutral test that could weigh them
against each other. The test, ultimately, has to
be one of intuition, or “gut reaction.” Many
people find that materialism makes more sense
because, after all, everyone has the experience
of interacting with an outside world and
believing that’s really “out there.” On the other
hand, it’s impossible for us to step “outside” our
own minds, so how can we be so sure that there
really is an “out there” at all?

11. Quiz
Start

12. 1.Idealism can be traced
back to…
a.Jesus of Nazareth
b.Plato
c.Buddha
d.Thomas Jefferson

13. 2.The opposite of idealism
is…
a.Materialism
b.Realism
c.Pragmatism
d.Rationalism

14. 3.This article discusses which of
the following types of idealism?
a.Scientific idealism
b.Political idealism
c.Subjective idealism
d.All of the above

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