Idealism

Idealism as a systematic philosophy derives from thought's reflecting on itself and comparing the integral unity it discovers with the contingent and apparently contradictory dynamics of the external material world. The outcome of this form of self-reflection is a conception of rational unity as the highest and most perfect form of reality. The internal unity that thought discovers in itself is taken to be definitive of the essential nature of reality as a whole. The possibility of meaning, purpose, and freedom in material nature is grounded, from the idealist perspective, on the truth of the universal rational order that thought discovers when it takes itself for its object. The abiding need of humans to understand the universe as meaningful and purposive and to understand themselves as free explains the enduring importance of idealism long after its methodical theorizations have ceased to be convincing as scientific expositions of the essential nature of the universe in its totality. To explain more concretely what idealism means and what it has contributed to the understanding of natural and social reality, it is perhaps best to begin by considering what the term means in ordinary language.

In colloquial English, idealist is generally used as a term of good-natured criticism of anyone who hopes for social changes that rest on principles assumed to be too pure for flawed humans. Hence, idealism typically means a form of thought that studiously ignores reality. Reality is taken to be a hard-and-fast limit on human hopes, whereas ideals are regarded as mere aspirations for a world fundamentally different from idealistic. In this ordinary sense, a hard-and-fast division between reality, on the one hand, and human ideals, on the other, is essential. This division between ideals and reality is the very opposite of their relation in idealist philosophy. Understanding the internal connection between thought and reality is the key to understanding the philosophical meaning of idealism.