Idealism is the metaphysical view that mind supersedes reality, that the ultimate nature of reality is based upon ideas, thoughts, and forms. It holds that the real world is inseparable from or meaningless without consciousness and perception. It is the philosophical opposite of Naturalism, Materialism, and Realism. Idealism is not based on an empirical evaluation of fact. Instead, it is grounded in an intuitive interpretation of perceptions and the derivation of meaning from experience.
Not all forms of Idealism dispute the existence of a physical world. However, they all insist that the apparent self-sufficiency of the natural world is deceptive. To the Materialist mind, Nature appears to be self-sufficient and to go its own way, independent of our involvement in or perception of it. Nature gives the appearance of being eternal, operating according to its own laws with no need for a creator or outside intelligent agent to initiate and sustain it. But idealism relies on Mind, Spirit, and Idea for its power and its meaning. It draws a strong distinction between reality and appearance. Subjective Idealism considers the physical universe to be either non-existent or in some way, less “real” than our mental constructs of it. There are other forms of Idealism that are less severe, that don’t deny reality. But our focus here will primarily be on those that do.
The range of Idealism spans Platonic ideal forms through Eastern Mysticism, all the way a “Matrix” world-view where all of life is just an implanted dream, or in 21st century-speak, some sort of “hologram”. This section describes the more common forms of Idealism. The various Idealistic schools of thought are conveniently both unprovable and unfalsifiable. Any techniques used to examine their propositions would involve postulating “real” tools of research, which beg the original question being investigated, “what is real”. Among other reasons, this accounts for its longevity and frequent re-occurrence in both ancient and modern thought.
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