2. Idealism
• In philosophy, idealism is the diverse group of
metaphysical philosophies which asserts that
"reality" is in some way indistinguishable or
inseparable from human understanding and/or
perception; that it is in some sense mentally
constituted, or otherwise closely connected to
ideas
• any of various systems of thought in which the
objects of knowledge are held to be in some way
dependent on the activity of mind.
3. Concept
• Idealism is employed in philosophy, the
mental work of experience is foundational
to all science and for that matter all
knowledge.
• It would be impossible to know anything
apart from consciousness or experience.
• Thus, the mental work (experience,
awareness, consciousness) has priority – it is
the only world to which we have immediate
access.
4. • For the idealist, psychology is the
science that studies mental
processes and experience.
• An idealist would argue that all
science begins with experience and is
about experience.
5. Types of Idealism Theories
A subjective claim, is an
expression of belief,
opinion, or personal
preference. It cannot be
proved right or wrong by
any generally accepted
criteria.
concedes the primary of
human consciousness and
believes that the existing
world are a combination of
sensation.
An objective claim may be
true or false; just because
something is objective does
not mean it is true. concedes
the primary of an objective
consciousness which exists
before and independent of
human ones.
Subjective Idealism
Objective Idealism
7. Platonic Idealism
• “People should concern themselves in
searching for truth”
• Importance and use of dialectic (or
critical discussion)
• 2 worlds: world of ideas (forms) and
world of matter (everchanging)
• People do not create knowledge, but
rather they discover it.
8. Religious Idealism
• Idealism has exerted considerable
influence on religion
• Religion – God as Universal Good,
• Idealism- Truth as Universal Good
9. Modern idealism (RENE DESCARTES)
• A French philosopher, mathematician and
scientist
• His philosophy became known as the
Cartesian philosophy.
• His basic proposition: I think, therefore I am.
• He thought the world consisted of two kinds
of substances: thinking substance (mind) and
extended substance (matter)
• He struggled with how mind and matter
interacted.
10. • René Descartes was one of the first to
claim that all we really know is what is in
our own consciousnesses, and that the
whole external world is merely an idea or
picture in our minds.
11. Principles of Descartes
• Existence of his own mind
• Existence of a perfect being (God)
• God created everything
• Whatever we clearly and distinctly
perceive is true
12. Existence of his own mind
• Descartes found he could doubt that things in front of
him are really there, and even that his body exists,
since he could be dreaming or hallucinating.
• However, he couldn’t doubt that he has a mind (when
he considered it attentively) because he was doubting
other things and doubting can only be done by a mind.
• It is not possible for us to doubt that, while we are
doubting, we exist; and . . . this is the first thing which
we know by philosophizing in the correct order.
• So Descartes’s first principle is that his own mind
exists
13. Existence of a perfect being (God)
One of Descartes’s arguments:
• Existence is a perfection. So, the idea of a
perfect being includes the idea of existence.
So, a perfect being exists.
15. Whatever we clearly and distinctly
perceive is true
• Descartes is here talking about perception by the
mind, not the senses. He knows, and stresses,
that the senses are sometimes deceptive due to
illusions, dreams, and hallucinations.
• His argument for this principle:
• Since God created everything, he created our
minds. So, if what we clearly and distinctly
perceive to be true were false, God would be a
deceiver. Since God is perfect, he isn’t a
deceiver. So, whatever we clearly and distinctly
perceive is true
16. George Berkeley
• He accepted Descartes’ idea that the
universe is divided into mind and matter.
• But he saw, that if mind and matter are
separate substances, they cannot interact.
• He held that people’s highest happiness
consists in coming to understand and
appreciate the truth and that they are tiny
parts of an all-inclusive, pantheistic God.
(Pantheism believes that all is God and
God is all.)
17. George Hegel
• In 1818, he became a professor of philosophy at the
University of Berlin and there became a prominent
and an overriding figure in philosophy.
• Three major aspects of his system are logic, nature,
and spirit.
• This system led some of Hegel’s followers to believe
in foreordained destiny in the face of which
individuals are mere parts of the greater, more
complete and unified whole – the state.
• The word “dialectic” best fits Hegel’s logic. The all-
inclusive Hegelian triad is 1. Thesis – ideas 2.
Antithesis – otherness of the ideas 3. Synthesis –
Mind or Spirit
18. The Metaphysics of
Idealism
• The self is the prime reality of individual
experience. The ultimate reality is self.
• The individual self has all the freedom
essential to self-determination. It does
not mean that we have the freedom to
do whatever we please, without limits.
An individual is a part and not the whole
of reality. Self-determination might be a
more exact term to use than freedom.
19. Views about reality
• Only the mental or the spiritual is ultimately
real
• the world is an expression of a cosmic
mind
• the world of the mind and ideas is eternal,
unchanging and orderly.
• truths and values are absolute and
universal.
• a human being has a material body and
an immortal soul.
• the soul is durable and therefore is
permanent.
20. Critique
• many people feel that idealism is too
conservative .
• Idealism views the world as a finished
product waiting only to be discovered.
• intellectual emphasis ignores other
aspects .
• Idealism overemphasis on text books,
does not accommodates modern era
of technology.
