Material idealism. What is the difference between an idealist philosopher and a materialist philosopher?

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………...........3

I. Materialism and idealism:

1. The concept of materialism…………………………………………………….4

2. The concept of idealism………………………………………………………...8

3. Differences between materialism and idealism……………….…….12

II. Historical forms of materialism:

1. Ancient materialism……………………………………………...13

2. Metaphysical materialism of the New Age………………………14

3. Dialectical materialism………………………………………….15

III. The difference between metaphysical and dialectical materialism...16

Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………………17

List of used literature……………………………………………………...18

Introduction

Philosophers want to know what the meaning of human life is. But for this we need to answer the question: what is a person? What is its essence? To determine the essence of a person means to show his fundamental differences from everything else. The main difference is the mind, consciousness. Any human activity is directly related to the activity of his spirit and thoughts.

The history of philosophy is, in a certain sense, the history of the confrontation between materialism and idealism, or, in other words, how different philosophers understand the relationship between being and consciousness.

If a philosopher claims that first a certain idea, a world mind, appeared in the world, and from them all the diversity was born real world, this means that we are dealing with an idealistic point of view on the main issue of philosophy. Idealism is a type and a way of philosophizing that assigns an active creative role in the world exclusively to the spiritual principle; only recognizing his ability for self-development. Idealism does not deny matter, but views it as a lower kind of being - not as a creative, but as a secondary principle.

From the point of view of supporters of materialism, matter, i.e. the basis of the entire infinite number of objects and systems existing in the world is primary, therefore a materialistic view of the world is valid. Consciousness, which is inherent only to man, reflects the surrounding reality.

Target of this work - study the features materialism And idealism .

For achievements goals the following were supplied tasks : 1) study theoretical material on the topic; 2) consider the features of philosophical movements; 3) compare and identify differences between these trends.

Forms materialism and idealism are diverse. There are objective and subjective idealism, metaphysical, dialectical, historical and ancient materialism.

I Materialism and idealism.

1. Materialism

Materialism- this is a philosophical direction that postulates the primacy and uniqueness of the material principle in the world and considers the ideal only as a property of the material. Philosophical materialism asserts the primacy of the material and the secondary nature of the spiritual, ideal, which means the eternity, uncreatedness of the world, its infinity in time and space. Thinking is inseparable from matter, which thinks, and the unity of the world lies in its materiality. Considering consciousness to be a product of matter, materialism views it as a reflection of the external world. Materialistic solution of the second party fundamental question of philosophy- about the knowability of the world - means a conviction in the adequacy of the reflection of reality in human consciousness, in the knowability of the world and its laws. Materialism is characterized by reliance on science, evidence and verifiability of statements. Science has repeatedly refuted idealism, but has not yet been able to refute materialism. Under content materialism is understood as the totality of its initial premises, its principles. Under shape materialism is understood general structure, determined primarily by the method of thinking. Thus, its content contains something common that is inherent in all schools and movements of materialism, in their opposition to idealism and agnosticism, and its form is associated with something special that characterizes individual schools and movements of materialism.

In the history of philosophy, materialism, as a rule, was the worldview of advanced classes and strata of society interested in correct knowledge of the world, in strengthening human power over nature. Summarizing the achievements of science, he contributed to the growth of scientific knowledge, improvement of scientific methods, which had a beneficial influence on the success of human practice, on the development productive forces. The criterion for the truth of materialism is socio-historical practice. It is in practice that the false constructions of idealists and agnostics are refuted, and its truth is undeniably proven. The word “materialism” began to be used in the 17th century mainly in the sense of physical ideas about matter (R. Boyle), and later in a more general, philosophical sense (G.V. Leibniz) to contrast materialism with idealism. A precise definition of materialism was first given by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Materialism went through 3 stages in its development .

First the stage was associated with the naive or spontaneous materialism of the ancient Greeks and Romans (Empedocles, Anaximander, Democritus, Epicurus). The first teachings of materialism appear along with the emergence of philosophy in slave-holding societies ancient india, China and Greece in connection with progress in the field of astronomy, mathematics and other sciences. common feature ancient materialism consists in recognizing the materiality of the world, its existence independent of the consciousness of people. Its representatives sought to find in the diversity of nature the common origin of everything that exists and happens. In antiquity, Thales of Miletus believed that everything arises from water and turns into it. Ancient materialism, especially Epicurus, was characterized by an emphasis on the personal self-improvement of man: freeing him from fear of the gods, from all passions and acquiring the ability to be happy in any circumstances. The merit of ancient materialism was the creation of a hypothesis about the atomic structure of matter (Leucippus, Democritus).

In the Middle Ages, materialistic tendencies manifested themselves in the form of nominalism, the doctrine of the “coeternity of nature and God.” During the Renaissance, materialism (Telesio, Vruna and others) was often clothed in the form of pantheism and hylozoism, viewed nature in its integrity and was in many ways reminiscent of the materialism of antiquity - this was the time second stage of development of materialism. In the 16th-18th centuries, in European countries - the second stage of the development of materialism - Bacon, Hobbes, Helvetius, Galileo, Gassendi, Spinoza, Locke and others formulated metaphysical and mechanistic materialism. This form of materialism arose on the basis of emerging capitalism and the associated growth of production, technology, and science. Acting as ideologists of the then progressive bourgeoisie, materialists fought against medieval scholasticism and church authorities, turned to experience as a teacher and to nature as an object of philosophy. The materialism of the 17th and 18th centuries is associated with the rapidly progressing mechanics and mathematics of that time, which determined its mechanistic character. In contrast to the natural philosophers-materialists of the Renaissance, the materialists of the 17th century began to view the last elements of nature as inanimate and qualityless. Remaining generally in the position of a mechanistic understanding of movement, French philosophers (Diderot, Holbach and others) considered it as a universal and integral property of nature, and completely abandoned the deistic inconsistency inherent in most materialists of the 17th century. The organic connection that exists between all materialism and atheism became especially clear among the French materialists of the 18th century. The pinnacle in the development of this form of materialism in the West was Feuerbach’s “anthropological” materialism, in which contemplation was most clearly manifested.

In the 1840s, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels formulated the basic principles of dialectical materialism - this was the beginning third stage of development of materialism. In Russia and countries of Eastern Europe in the second half of the 19th century, a further step in the development of materialism was the philosophy of revolutionary democrats, which became derived from the combination of Hegelian dialectics and materialism (Belinsky, Herzen, Chernyshevsky, Dobrolyubov, Markovich, Votev and others), based on the traditions of Lomonosov, Radishchev and others. One of the features of the development of dialectical materialism is its enrichment with new ideas. Modern development science requires that natural scientists become conscious supporters of dialectical materialism. At the same time, the development of socio-historical practice and science requires the constant development and concretization of the philosophy of materialism itself. The latter occurs in the constant struggle of materialism with the latest varieties of idealistic philosophy.

In the 20th century Western philosophy Materialism developed mainly as a mechanistic one, but a number of Western materialist philosophers also retained an interest in dialectics. Materialism of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is represented by the philosophical direction of “ontological philosophy,” the leader of which is the American philosopher Barry Smith. Philosophical materialism can be called an independent direction of philosophy precisely because it resolves a number of problems, the formulation of which is excluded by other directions of philosophical knowledge.

Main forms materialism in the historical development of philosophical thought are: antique materialism , historical materialism , metaphysical materialism New time And dialectical materialism .

Idealism concept

Idealism- this is a philosophical direction that attributes an active, creative role in the world exclusively to the ideal principle and makes the material dependent on the ideal.

Idealism is a category of philosophy that states that reality depends on mind and not on matter. In other words, all ideas and thoughts constitute the essence and fundamental nature of our world. In this article we will get acquainted with the concept of idealism, consider who its founder was.

Preamble

Extreme versions of idealism deny that any “world” exists outside of our minds. Narrower versions of this philosophical movement, on the contrary, argue that the understanding of reality primarily reflects the work of our minds, that the properties of objects do not have a standing independent of the minds that perceive them.

If there is an external world, we cannot really know it or know anything about it; all that is available to us are mental constructs created by the mind, which we falsely attribute to the things around us. For example, theistic forms of idealism limit reality to only one consciousness - the divine.

Definition in simple words

Idealism is the philosophical credo of those people who believe in high ideals and strive to make them real, although they know that sometimes this is impossible. This concept is often contrasted with pragmatism and realism, where people have goals that are less ambitious but more achievable.

This sense of “idealism” is very different from how the word is used in philosophy. From a scientific point of view, idealism is the basic structure of reality: adherents of this movement believe that its one “unit” is thought, not matter.

Important books and founding philosophers

If you want to get to know the concept of idealism better, it is recommended to read some fascinating works by some authors. For example, Josiah Royce - “The World and the Individual”, Berkeley George - “Treatise on the Principles of Human Knowledge”, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel 0 “Phenomenology of Spirit”, I. Kant - “Critique of Pure Reason”.

You should also pay attention to the founders of idealism, such as Plato and Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz. All the authors of the books mentioned above made a huge contribution to the development of this philosophical movement.

Scottish philosopher David Hume showed that a person cannot prove the existence of a stable self-identity over time. There is no scientific way confirm people's idea of ​​their own self. We are confident that this is true thanks to our intuition. She tells us: “Of course it’s me! And it can’t be any other way!”

There are many ways to answer, including those based on modern genetics, which Hume could not have imagined. Instead of being a physical object, the human self is an idea, and according to ontological philosophical idealism, this is what makes it real!

James Jeans was a British scientist and mathematician. In his quotation that each individual consciousness should be compared to a brain cell in the universal mind, the researcher shows a comparison between divine and ontological idealism. James Jeans was an ardent proponent of the latter theory in philosophy. The scientist argued that ideas cannot simply float in the abstract world of the mind, but are contained in the great universal mind. However, he does not use the word “God” itself, but many attribute his theory to theism. Jeans himself was an agnostic, that is, he believed that it was impossible to know whether the Almighty was real or not.

What is “mind” in idealism

The nature and identity of the “mind” on which reality depends is one of the issues that has divided idealists into several sides. Some argue that there is some kind of objective consciousness outside of nature, while others, on the contrary, think that it is simply overall strength reason or rationality, others believe that it is the collective mental faculties of society, and others simply focus on thought processes individual people.

Plato's Objective Idealism

The ancient Greek philosopher believed that there was a perfect realm of form and ideas, and our world simply contained its shadows. This view is often called Plato's objective idealism or "Platonic realism" because the scientist seemed to ascribe to these forms an existence independent of any mind. However, some argued that ancient Greek philosopher adhered to a position similar to Kant's Transcendental Idealism.

Epistemological course

According to Rene Descartes, the only thing that can be real happens in our mind: nothing from the external world can be realized directly without the mind. Thus, the only true knowledge available to humanity is our own existence, a position summed up in the famous statement of the mathematician and philosopher: “I think, therefore I am” (in Latin - Cogito ergo sum).

Subjective opinion

According to this direction in idealism, only ideas can be known and have any reality. In some treatises it is also called solipsism or dogmatic idealism. Thus, no statement about anything outside one's mind has any justification.

Bishop George Berkeley was the main proponent of this position, and he argued that so-called “objects” existed only insofar as we perceived them: they were not constructed from independently existing matter. Reality only seemed to persist, either because people continued to perceive things or because of the persisting will and mind of God.

Objective idealism

According to this theory, all reality is based on the perception of one mind, usually but not always identified with God, which then transmits its perception to the minds of all others.

There is no time, space or other reality outside the perception of one mind. In fact, even we humans are not separate from it. We are more like cells that are part of a larger organism, rather than independent beings. Objective idealism began with Friedrich Schelling, but found its supporters in the person of G. W. F. Hegel, Josiah Royce, S. Peirce.

Transcendental idealism

According to this theory, developed by Kant, all knowledge originates in perceptible phenomena that were organized into categories. These thoughts are sometimes called critical idealism, which does not deny that external objects or external reality exist. However, he at the same time denies that we have no access to the true, essential nature of reality or objects. All we have is a simple perception of them.

Absolute idealism

This theory states that all objects are identical to some a certain idea, and ideal knowledge is the system of ideas itself. This is also known as objective idealism, which resembles the movement created by Hegel. Unlike other forms of flow, this one believes that there is only one mind in which all reality is created.

Divine idealism

Moreover, the world can be seen as one of the manifestations of some other minds, such as God. However, it should be remembered that all physical reality will be contained in the mind of the Almighty, which means that he himself will be located outside the Multiverse itself.

Ontological idealism

Other people who adhere to this theory argue that the material world exists, but at a basic level it was created from ideas. For example, some physicists believe that the universe is fundamentally made up of numbers. Therefore, scientific formulas do not just describe physical reality - they are it. E=MC 2 is a formula that is seen as a fundamental aspect of reality that Einstein discovered, and not at all a description that he subsequently made.

Idealism vs Materialism

Materialism states that reality has physical basis, not conceptual. For adherents of this theory, such a world is the only truth. Our thoughts and perceptions are part of the material world, like other objects. For example, consciousness - physical process, in which one part (your brain) interacts with another (the book, the screen, or the sky you're looking at).

Idealism is a constantly contestable system, so it cannot be proven or disproved, just like materialism. There are no specific tests that can find the facts and weigh them against each other. Here, all the truths can be falsified and false, because no one has yet been able to prove them.

All that adherents of these theories rely on is intuition or an instinctive reaction. Many people believe that materialism makes more sense than idealism. This is both a great experience of interaction of the first theory with the outside world, and the belief that everything around really exists. But, on the other hand, a refutation of this system appears, because a person cannot go beyond the limits of his own mind, so how can we be sure that reality exists around us?

Idealism in philosophy is a movement that claims that our spirit, subconscious and consciousness, thoughts, dreams and everything spiritual are primary. The material aspect of our world is considered something derivative. In other words, spirit generates matter, and without thought no object can exist.

General concepts

Based on this, many skeptics believe that idealism in philosophy is acceptance. They give examples where convinced idealists are immersed in the world of their dreams, regardless of whether they concern a specific person or the whole world. We will now look at the two main varieties of idealism and compare them. It is also worth noting that both of these concepts, although often characterized by opposing dogmas, are the exact opposite of realism.

in philosophy

The objective current in philosophical science appeared in ancient times. In those years, people did not yet share their teachings as such, so such a name did not exist. Plato is considered to be the father of objective idealism, who enclosed the entire world existing around people within the framework of myth and divine stories. One of his statements has passed through the centuries and is still a kind of slogan of all idealists. It lies in selflessness, in the fact that an idealist is a person who strives for the highest harmony, for the highest ideals, despite minor adversities and problems. In ancient times, a similar trend was also supported by Proclus and Plotinus.

This philosophical science reaches its apogee during the Middle Ages. In these dark ages Idealism in philosophy is a church philosophy that explains any phenomenon, any thing, and even the very fact of human existence as an act of the Lord. The objective idealists of the Middle Ages believed that the world as we see it was built by God in six days. They completely denied evolution and any other gradations of man and nature that could lead to development.

The idealists separated from the church. In their teachings they tried to convey to people the nature of one spiritual principle. As a rule, objective idealists preached the idea of ​​universal peace and understanding, the realization that we are all one, which can achieve the highest harmony in the Universe. Idealism in philosophy was built on the basis of such semi-utopian judgments. This movement was represented by such personalities as G. W. Leibniz and F. W. Schelling.

Subjective idealism in philosophy

This movement was formed around the 17th century, in those years when at least the slightest opportunity arose to become a free individual, independent of the state and the church. The essence of subjectivism in idealism is that a person builds his world through thoughts and desires. Everything we see and feel is only our world. Another individual builds it in his own way, and accordingly sees and perceives it differently. Such “isolated” idealism in philosophy is a kind of visualization as a model of reality. Representatives are I. G. Fichte, J. Berkeley, and D. Hume.

idealism

Dictionary of medical terms

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. D.N. Ushakov

idealism

idealism, pl. no, At. (from Latin idealis - ideal) (book).

A philosophical worldview that considers the basis of everything that exists to be a spiritual principle, an idea; opposite materialism (philosophy).

The behavior of an idealist (in 2 meanings).

Tendency to idealize reality. His attitude towards people is imbued with extreme idealism.

Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language. S.I.Ozhegov, N.Yu.Shvedova.

idealism

A philosophical direction that asserts, in contrast to materialism, the primacy of spirit, consciousness and the secondary nature of matter, the ideality of the world and the dependence of its existence on the consciousness of people.

Idealization of reality.

Commitment to high moral ideals.

adj. idealistic, -aya, -oe. Idealistic currents. Idealistic theories.

New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T. F. Efremova.

idealism

m. Common name philosophical teachings, opposed to materialism and asserting that consciousness, spirit, idea are primary and form the basis of everything that exists.

1. A tendency to idealize reality, the ability not to notice its negative sides.

   Commitment to high moral ideals.

Encyclopedic Dictionary, 1998

idealism

IDEALISM (French idealisme, from Greek idea - idea) is a general designation for philosophical teachings that assert that spirit, consciousness, thinking, the mental are primary, and matter, nature, the physical are secondary, derivative. The main forms of idealism are objective and subjective. The first asserts the existence of a spiritual principle outside and independent of human consciousness, the second either denies the existence of any reality outside the consciousness of the subject, or considers it as something completely determined by his activity. There are various forms of idealism depending on how the spiritual principle is understood: as the world mind (panlogism) or the world will (voluntarism), as a single spiritual substance (idealistic monism) or many spiritual primary elements (pluralism), as a rational, logically comprehended principle ( idealistic rationalism), as a sensory diversity of sensations (idealistic empiricism and sensationalism, phenomenalism), as an irregular, illogical principle that cannot be the object of scientific knowledge (irrationalism). The largest representatives of objective idealism: in ancient philosophy - Plato, Plotinus, Proclus; in modern times - G. W. Leibniz, F. W. Schelling, G. W. F. Hegel. Subjective idealism is most clearly expressed in the teachings of J. Berkeley, D. Hume, and the early J. G. Fichte (18th century). In everyday usage, “idealist” (from the word “ideal”) often means an unselfish person striving for lofty goals.

Idealism

(French idéalisme, from Greek idéa ≈ idea), a general designation of philosophical teachings that claim that consciousness, thinking, mental, spiritual is primary, fundamental, and matter, nature, physical is secondary, derivative, dependent, conditioned. I., thus, opposes materialism in solving the main question of philosophy - the relationship between being and thinking, spiritual and material, both in the sphere of existence and in the sphere of knowledge. Although philosophy arose more than two and a half millennia ago, this term, as a designation for one of the two camps fighting in philosophy, appeared only at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1702, the German idealist Leibniz wrote about the hypotheses of Epicurus and Plato, as the greatest materialist and the greatest idealist. And in 1749, the French materialist D. Diderot called it “... the most absurd of all systems” (Selected works, vol. 1, M. ≈ Leningrad, 1926, p. 28).

Philosophical term "I." should not be confused with the word “idealist” used in everyday language, in everyday discussions on moral topics, which comes from the word “ideal” and denotes an unselfish person striving to achieve lofty goals. In the philosophical sense, "I." also in the ethical field it means the denial of the conditionality of moral consciousness by social existence and the recognition of its primacy. The confusion of these concepts was often used by idealists in order to discredit the philosophy of materialism.

With all the fundamental unity of the idealist camp in solving the main question of philosophy within this camp, one should distinguish its two main forms: objective and subjective philosophy. The first is characterized by the recognition of a spiritual principle outside and independent of our consciousness; for the second, the assumption of any reality outside and independent of our consciousness is unacceptable.

We meet the historical predecessor of objective history in the religious and artistic images of the ancient Indian Upanishads (the material world is the veil of Maya, behind which the true reality of the divine principle, Brahman, is hidden). In conceptual form, objective philosophy received its first complete expression in the philosophy of Plato. In medieval philosophy it was represented by scholastic realism, in modern times its largest representatives are G. W. Leibniz, F. W. Schelling, G. Hegel. Subjective idealism received its most vivid expression in the teachings of the English idealists of the 18th century. J. Berkeley and D. Huma.

The presence of two main forms of philosophy does not exhaust the variety of different versions of idealistic philosophical systems. Within these two forms in the history of philosophy, there have been variations, determined by how the spiritual principle is understood: as the world mind (panlogism) or the world will (voluntarism), as a single spiritual substance (idealistic monism) or many spiritual primary elements (monadology ≈ cm Monad, pluralism), as a rational, logically comprehended principle (idealistic rationalism), as a sensory diversity of sensations (idealistic Empiricism and sensationalism, phenomenalism) or as an irregular, illogical “free” principle that cannot be the object of scientific understanding (irrationalism).

Since idealistic or materialistic solutions to the fundamental question of philosophy are mutually exclusive, only one of them can be true. This is the materialist solution, which is confirmed by the history of science, viewed from this angle, as well as by the development of social practice. How, in this case, explains the longevity of I., its preservation in the public consciousness for thousands of years? This circumstance has its deep roots: epistemological and social. The historical sources of I. are the animism and anthropomorphism inherent in the thinking of primitive man, the animation of the entire surrounding world and consideration of it driving forces in the image and likeness of human actions as determined by consciousness and will. Subsequently, the ability of abstract thinking itself becomes the epistemological source of intelligence. The possibility of I. is already given in the first elementary abstraction. Education general concepts and an increasing degree of abstraction are necessary moments in the progress of theoretical thinking. However, the incorrect use of abstraction entails the hypostatization of properties, relationships, and actions of real things abstracted by thinking in isolation from their specific material carriers and the attribution of independent existence to these products of abstraction. Consciousness, thinking, size, form, goodness, beauty, conceived outside and independently of material objects and beings that possess them, as well as a plant “in general” or a person “in general”, taken as essences, or ideas embodied in things, ≈ such is the false course of abstract thinking that leads to I. “Straightforwardness and one-sidedness, woodenness and ossification, subjectivism and subjective blindness voilá (here ≈ Ed.) epistemological roots of idealism” (Lenin V.I., Complete collection of works. ,5th ed., vol. 29, p. 322). These epistemological roots of history are fixed due to certain social factors, originating in the separation of mental labor from physical labor, in which “... consciousness is able to emancipate itself from the world...” (Marx K. And Engels F., Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 3, p. 30) . With the formation of a slave-owning society, intellectualism becomes a natural-historical form of consciousness for the ruling classes, since mental labor was originally their privilege.

By its origin and at all stages of its development, religion is closely connected with religion. In fact, religion arose as a conceptual, conceptual expression of the religious worldview and in subsequent eras served, as a rule, as a philosophical justification and substantiation of religious faith. According to V.I. Lenin, philosophical philosophy is “...the road to clericalism...” (see Complete collection of works, 5th ed., vol. 29, p. 322).

The centuries-old history of India is very complex. In a variety of forms at different stages of history, he expressed in his own way the evolution of forms of social consciousness in accordance with the nature of changing social formations and the new level of development of science. The main forms of philosophy, which received further development in the subsequent history of philosophy, arose already in Ancient Greece. Philosophical I. reached its highest flowering in German classical philosophy(late 18th ≈ 1st half of the 19th centuries), which substantiated and developed a new historical form rationalism ≈ idealistic dialectics. With the transition of capitalism to the imperialist stage, the dominant feature of idealist philosophy becomes a turn to irrationalism in its various versions. IN modern era The dominant idealistic trends in bourgeois philosophy are: neopositivism mainly in Anglo-Saxon countries), existentialism (in continental Western European countries), phenomenology (usually intertwined with existentialism), neo-Thomism (in Catholic countries).

Modern idealist philosophers rarely admit that they belong to the idealist camp. “Many feel that this is more a phenomenon of past history than a living school of our days...” (Ewing A.S., The idealist tradition, Glencoe, 1957, p. 3). The dominant classification of philosophical teachings in modern idealistic philosophy is most often based not on the opposition between materialism and idealism, but on the opposition between materialism and realism. Thus, the neo-Thomists, calling their teaching “realism,” distinguish it from both materialism and subjective philosophy. Other idealistic movements claim to overcome both opposing directions with the help of various kinds of ambiguous terms (“neutral monism,” “elements,” etc.). In fact, such interpretations are essentially misleading in nature, and all the leading trends of modern bourgeois philosophy are in fact various types AND.

Lit.: Engels F., Ludwig Feuerbach and the end of classical German philosophy, Marx K. and Engels F., Works, 2nd ed., vol. 21; Lenin V.I., Materialism and empirio-criticism, Complete, collected. cit., 5th ed., vol. 18; him, On the question of dialectics, ibid., vol. 29; his, Synopsis of Aristotle’s book “Metaphysics”, ibid.; Bykhovsky B., Narsky I., Sokolov V., Idealism, in the book: Philosophical Encyclopedia, vol. 2, M., 1962; Florensky P. A., The meaning of idealism, Sergiev Posad, 1914; Cherkashin P.P., Epistemological roots of idealism, M., 1961: Cornforth M., Science against idealism, trans., from English, M., 1957; Modern subjective idealism, M., 1957; Modern objective idealism, M., 1963: Oizerman T.I., Main philosophical directions, M., 1971; Willmann 0., Geschichte des Idealismus, 2 Aufl., Lpz., 1907; Ewing A.C. Idealism, L., 1934.

B. E. Bykhovsky.

Wikipedia

Idealism (meanings)

Idealism :

In philosophy:

• Idealism - common name philosophical teachings that consider the idea to be the basis of everything that exists.

In psychology and everyday speech:

• Perfectionism is the belief that best result can be achieved. In a pathological form, it is the belief that an imperfect result of work is unacceptable.

In music:

• Idealism is the debut album by German electro-pop band Digitalism.

Idealism

Idealism- term for a wide range philosophical concepts and worldviews, which are based on the assertion of the primacy of the idea in relation to matter (see The main question of philosophy) in the sphere of being. In many historical and philosophical works, a dichotomy is carried out, considering the opposition of idealism to materialism (in Orthodoxy - the Christian materialism of the Holy Fathers, although the terms “materialism” and “idealism” were proposed by Leibniz only in the 18th century) the essence of philosophy. The categories of materialism and idealism are historical categories in all eras. When using them, one must always take into account their historical coloring and, in particular, the aesthetic significance that they receive in connection with different periods historical development, in connection with individual philosophers and culturologists and in connection with the infinitely diverse diversity of results and works of philosophers and culturologists. Abstract idealism in its pure form and abstract materialism in its pure form are extreme opposites of the philosophical worldview, which do not reject, but presuppose a countless number of their combinations with an infinitely varied dosage.

Idealism asserts the primacy in the sphere of existence of the ideal spiritual in relation to the material. In Christianity, this doctrine was called “Barlaamism” after Barlaam of Calabria and was condemned at the Council of Constantinople in 1341. The term “idealism” appeared only in the 18th century. It was first used by Leibniz, speaking about the philosophy of Plato, condemned not only by Holy Tradition, but also in the Orthodox liturgy. There are two main branches of idealism: objective idealism and subjective idealism.

Examples of the use of the word idealism in literature.

And when she left Weil, he - weak, mocking - could not resist his heights idealism and rolled into the barren sands of Ecclesiastes, which lurk in every Jewish intellect and are always ready to suck it in.

Unlike other forms of materialism, with which it is in fundamental disagreement, dialectical materialism is closely connected in its genesis and at the basis of its judgments with idealism in its Hegelian form.

I speak not as an inveterate Darwinist against the rejection of the doctrine of evolution, and not as a professional investigator of causes against the causeless sense of value, and not as a convinced materialist against idealism.

Systematic idealism, everywhere establishing relationships between things due to their certain general property, which is considered as the most essential for them, easily leads to ossification and sterile classification.

Therefore, speaking of Greek idealism, should be understood by it not only as the philosophical idealism of Plato, but as the entire ideal worldview of the Greek people, which was expressed throughout its entire culture and was its real religion.

From the ruins remaining here from its former splendor, it is clear that its inhabitants were engaged in agriculture, but were not gifted with artistic flair, cared little about luxury, were completely indifferent to the beauty of forms and were exclusively devoted to idealism.

I remember, for example, one introverted, intellectually highly developed neurotic, who alternately hovered in higher spheres transcendental idealism, he spent his time in dirty suburban hangouts, and his consciousness did not allow for either moral or aesthetic conflict.

In turn, Cassius, admiring idealism Brutus and his deep decency, was indignant at his lethargy and inertia.

Turgenev Belinsky, who led the fight against the circle in the 40s idealism, romanticism and narrowness.

But only Daphne finally helped me understand that only with the help of Lynch’s strange combination of skepticism and idealism I will be able to successfully counteract Murrow's constant assertions that the world has never been so wonderful.

Then the author, without giving up yet, began to take a closer look at the work, so to speak, of individual parts of our mechanism and in general at various little things and little things that the professors could, of course, overlook, due to their high official and social position, finding them, well, let’s say , too vulgar, miserable, not sublime, or even simply humiliating for humanity and the rapid growth of the entire Christian culture based on idealism and on proud superiority against other animals, born, unlike humans, from mold, water and other vile chemical compounds.

Any form of drug addiction is a disease, be it alcoholism, morphinism or idealism.

Idealism Plato is not purely monologistic. He becomes a pure monologist only in the neo-Kantian interpretation.

Another thing is that logical positivists were unable to get out of the labyrinth of difficulties arising from the identification of reality and its sensory images, slipping into the subjective idealism.

In other matters, the Cynics, on the contrary, very sharply criticized the basic principles idealism and Socrates and Plato.

The philosophical doctrine of materialism appeared in the era of antiquity. The philosophers of Ancient Greece and the Ancient East considered everything in the world around us regardless of consciousness - everything consists of material formations and elements, Thales, Democritus and others argued. In the modern era, materialism acquired a metaphysical orientation. Galileo and Newton said that everything in the world comes down to the mechanistic form of the movement of matter. Metaphysical materialism replaced dialectical one. Consistent materialism appeared in the theory of Marxism, when the basic principle of materialism extended not only to the material world, but also to nature. Feuerbach identified inconsistent materialism, which recognized the spirit, but reduced all its functions to the creation of matter.

Materialist philosophers argue that the only substance that exists is matter, all entities are formed by it, and phenomena, including consciousness, are formed in the process of interaction of various matters. The world exists independently of our consciousness. For example, a stone exists regardless of a person’s idea of ​​it, and what a person knows about it is the effect that the stone has on human senses. A person can imagine that there is no stone, but this will not make the stone disappear from the world. This means, say materialist philosophers, first there is the physical, and then the mental. Materialism does not deny the spiritual, it just asserts that consciousness is secondary to matter.

The essence of the philosophy of idealism

The theory of idealism was also born during antiquity. Idealism ascribes to the spirit a dominant role in the world. The classic of idealism is Plato. His teaching was called objective idealism and proclaimed an ideal principle in general, independent not only of matter, but also of human consciousness. There is some essence, some spirit that gave birth to everything and determines everything, say idealists.

Subjective idealism appeared in the philosophy of modern times. Idealist philosophers of modern times argued that the external world completely depends on human consciousness. Everything that surrounds people is just a combination of some sensations, and a person attributes material meaning to these combinations. The combination of some sensations gives rise to a stone and all ideas about it, others - a tree, etc.

In general, idealistic philosophy boils down to the fact that a person receives all information about the outside world only through sensations, with the help of the senses. All that a person knows for certain is knowledge obtained from the senses. And if the senses are arranged differently, then the sensations will be different. This means that a person talks not about the world, but about his feelings.