By Philosophical idealism is defined as a theory that seeks to explain our knowledge of the world through ideas. We invite you to learn more about this movement.
Broadly speaking, philosophical idealism is based on the thesis that the world constitutes a mental representation of the ideas of the subjects. However, this conception is very broad and, throughout history, has been approached in different ways through different thoughts.
René Descartes is considered the father of this doctrine, but we can find traces of it in more remote times. However, it is important to note that this ideology was consolidated during the 17th and 18th centuries. In fact, many refused to use the term until the time of Immanuel Kant.
What is idealism?
This is a theory that takes as its starting point the subject who knows and his ideas in relation to the outside world. Its objective is to answer the questions: How can we know the things that surround us? How does the human being know? In this sense, we are faced with a gnoseological idealism that is responsible for reflecting on knowledge and its possibilities.
Another important feature to highlight about this doctrine is the consequence that follows from its starting point. If the individual is considered as the first element for constructing knowledge, then what is stated about the outside world is a subjective representation.
As a result, it is a thought that is distrustful and cautious, not only with regard to external reality, but also against everything that claims to be real and true. Thus, this attitude of distrust also calls into question the ideas and mental contents of the subject.
Origin and history of idealism
The beginning of this current is usually placed in modern times, with René Descartes as its precursor. However, it is possible to trace the origins of this philosophical conception to Plato and his theory of ideas . According to this Greek intellectual, there are two worlds: one sensible and the other intelligible.
The sensible world is characterized by the constant becoming and corruption of things. In the intelligible world we find the truth and reality that cause sensible things. This called into question sensible experience as the basis of knowledge. On the contrary, ideas came to represent the input to build knowledge. Hence Plato’s philosophy is considered idealistic.
Idealism of the Modern Age
This way of thinking constitutes the predominant theory of modern philosophy . Descartes inaugurated it, placing the subject, bearer of reason and conscience, at the centre of thought. Consequently, he considers that the only reliable source of knowledge is the “I”. In this way, we know the world around us because it is in relation to the subject.
German idealism
In Germany, this philosophical movement represented a revival and a novelty compared to what had been thought in previous years. The person who opened the doors to this theory was Immanuel Kant , an author who inspired other philosophers such as Johann Fichte, Friedrich Schelling and Friedrich Hegel.
Kant’s most radical innovation was to achieve a synthesis between empiricism and rationalism . To this end, he created a philosophical system that brought together three of the most pressing problems of philosophy: knowledge, ethics and aesthetics.
In this way, he sets forth the fundamental principles of knowledge in his great work Critique of Pure Reason (1781). Likewise, in his Critique of Practical Reason (1788) he brings to the center of the discussion the importance of action tending toward duty.
Main features
Idealist philosophy is characterized by the predominant role it gives to the mind, consciousness or ideas in defining and explaining material reality. Over the years, this theory has been formulated in various ways; however, it presents the following essential features:
- Emphasis on the subject and his consciousness : this current maintains that reality is not independent of the mind of the subject who knows. Thus, subjectivity is the constructor of the external world.
- Primacy of ideas: the focus of attention is on how things are for the subject; this means that attention is paid to the subject’s ideas. In this sense, it can be said that the “I” establishes things as its own ideas.
- Human rationality: emphasizes human reason. It is not an abstract rationality, but a reason that is a specific quality of the human being. For this reason, idealist philosophers begin their reflection from the “I”.
- Ontological aspect: the being of the subject and of things is based on thought and, therefore, on ideas. Thus, the ontological aspect of the idealist current stands out, since being is identified with thought.
- Theological aspect: most idealists cannot detach themselves from basing their philosophy on God and, therefore, on religion. This theological turn allows the philosopher to not abandon the divine aspect, in addition to basing the external world on it.
- Split between subject and object: it is overcome by the absolute idealism of Hegel, who considers that his philosophy unifies both aspects. However, this opposition between subjectivity and objectivity arises thanks to the philosophical analysis that studies, on the one hand, how the subject knows; on the other, it reflects on how the subject apprehends reality or exteriority.
Idealist philosophers
Most of the philosophers who contributed to this way of thinking were modern philosophers, since their reflection was centered on the subject who knows and how he performs such a mental operation. This is how many of these intellectuals took ideas as a starting point.
Plato (427 BC – 347 BC)
As we said, Plato can be considered an idealist because he places the world of ideas on an intelligible level. Ideas have an ontological status of reality, that is, they are real. This can cause confusion with realism; however, the importance of ideas as the essence of the things that surround us cannot be denied. Hence his idealist theory.
René Descartes (1596–1650)
Descartes’ philosophical problem is the uncertainty of knowledge and his aim is to construct a certain and secure philosophy. To do so, he starts from doubt as a method and puts all knowledge about the world, including reality itself, in parentheses.
This leads him to find his first unquestionable certainty: subjective thought. In his phrase ” I think, therefore I am ” the primacy of the subject and his thinking is established and, with it, the importance of ideas for knowing.
Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716)
Leibniz’s philosophy summarized many years of reflection, especially that initiated by Descartes and continued by his successors. In this regard, this intellectual proposed that the world is made up of simple and indivisible substances called monads. These are the fundamental component of things. His idealist theory can be traced back to the activity of monads, since ideas come from them.
George Berkeley (1685–1753)
Although Berkeley does not recognize himself as an idealist, his adherence to this system is undeniable. This is because he completely denies matter and considers the qualities of objects to be entirely subjective. That is, they are ideas and not material substances. Based on this, the things that surround us are entirely subjective representations.
Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)
Kant ‘s transcendental idealism considers that the subject has limits when it comes to knowing. Therefore, one can only have knowledge of phenomena, as things that affect sensitivity.
This implies that there are things that are inaccessible to human reason. These are the noumena or things in themselves. Kant establishes space and time as the pure forms of sensibility that, together with the categories, produce knowledge.
Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762–1814)
Part of the idealist thought proposed by Kant. In fact, this German philosopher maintains that nobody had understood the precursor of this theory until he arrived. Thus, Fichte alleges that the “I” is the origin and foundation of the “non-I”, or also objectivity. In this way, the only way to overcome this dualism between subject and object or between “I” and “non-I” is through the synthesis carried out by knowledge.
Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
Hegel ‘s absolute idealism represented the culmination of the doctrine. In his work Phenomenology of the Spirit (1807), he sets out the stages that consciousness must go through to achieve absolute knowledge. The author sought to build a scientific and systematic philosophical system that would unite the subject with the object.
Building the world from idealism
The idealist philosophical current invites us to think about the relationship between the mind and reality, since this doctrine maintains that the external world is a subjective construction and representation. This ideology had many defenders and, therefore, variations throughout history.
From its beginnings dating back to ancient Greece with Plato’s theory of ideas, to Modernity with great idealist philosophers, we are faced with a thought that highlights the active nature of subjects in knowledge.