Idealism

One of the two basic schools of philosophy, ideological system opposite to materialism. Materialism and idealism are the two basic schools of philosophy according to the different answers given to the basic question of philosophy concerning the relation of thinking and being. Idealism claims that thinking determines being, that spirit is primary and matter is secondary, that spirit determines matter, and that matter is a product of spirit.

The emergence and long existence of idealism has epistemological and socio-historical roots. Human knowledge is a complex course full of contradictions, and one-sided exaggeration and absolutization of certain characteristics, certain sides and certain aspects of knowledge is the epistemological origin of idealism. The small scale of production that limited man’s outlook, the bias of the exploiting classes that always distorted the history of society, the antithesis between mental and physical labor, and the inversion by the ruling classes of the relation between spirit and matter for preserve their dominance are the socio-historical roots of idealism.

There are two basic forms of idealism: subjective idealism and objective idealism. Subjective idealism regards individual sensations, psychology, will and consciousness as the origin of the world, and denies that the material world exists independent of human consciousness. The 18th-century British philosopher George Berkeley was a famous representative of subjective idealism. He claimed that “matter is a collection of ideas” and “esse est percipi” (being is being perceived). Subjective idealism can lead to solipsism. Objective idealism regards the origin of all things as an independent thought and spirit that exists beyond man. Ancient Greek philosopher Plato founded the philosophical system of objective idealism, holding that the things perceived by men are limited and they are the products of an eternally immutable world of idea. Objective idealism reached its zenith with Hegel, a representative of the classical German philosophy. Hegel described the whole world as the dialectical process of development of absolute spirit with his vast philosophical system.

Idealism reverses the relation between matter and consciousness, which is at odds with the development of human practice and science. Idealist philosophy may contain some positive results of human knowledge and thinking. For example, on the basis of idealism, Hegelian philosophy profoundly elaborated an abundant idea of dialectics, which has become an important theoretical source of Marxist philosophy.