Welcome, dear students, to Class 11 Logic and Philosophy Chapter 15 Question Answer | Idealism | English Medium | ASSEB. Idealism is one of the two great rival theories of metaphysics that Higher Secondary First Year students are introduced to under the ASSEB syllabus, the other being Realism. Where Realism insists that the object of knowledge has an independent, mind-independent existence, Idealism teaches that the object of knowledge is in some way mind-dependent and that mind, spirit, idea or consciousness is the ultimate reality. The chapter therefore goes to the very root of philosophical inquiry and asks what kind of thing the world fundamentally is. By the end of this chapter you will be able to define Idealism, give its etymological meaning, describe its essential characteristics, distinguish its main types, summarise the contributions of its leading exponents in Western and Indian thought, evaluate the arguments offered for it, examine the standard criticisms made against it, contrast it carefully with Realism, and reflect on its educational implications.
This article is prepared strictly in keeping with the ASSEB (Assam State School Education Board) syllabus and the SCERT prescribed textbook for Higher Secondary First Year (Class 11) Logic and Philosophy. It contains a clear summary, a complete textbook question-and-answer set in three difficulty levels, additional important questions for examination practice, a glossary of key terms, a comparison table between the leading types of Idealism, and a comparison table between Idealism and Realism. Read it carefully, take notes in your own words, and use the tables for quick revision in the days before the examination.
Summary of Chapter 15: Idealism
Idealism is the metaphysical theory which holds that reality is fundamentally mental, spiritual or ideal in nature, and that the object of knowledge has no independent existence apart from a knowing mind. The English word idealism is derived from the Greek word idein, meaning to see, from which the noun idea arose with the meaning of that which is seen by the mind, that is, a form, a pattern or an essence. The Greek philosopher Plato gave the technical philosophical sense to the term when he taught that the eternal Forms or Ideas constitute the highest reality, of which the things of the sense world are only imperfect copies.
The central thesis of Idealism may be stated in five connected propositions. First, the object of knowledge is mind-dependent: apart from the mind it has no independent existence. Second, the world that is knowable through the mind is the only reality. Third, this world of ideas is purposive and spiritual rather than material and mechanical. Fourth, mind, soul and God are recognised as ultimate realities, and God is held to be the supreme force and final aim of the world process. Fifth, value is supreme: truth, goodness and beauty are not subjective fictions but the very substance of reality, and the realisation of these values is the meaning of human life.
Idealism is broadly divided into three principal types. Subjective Idealism, whose chief exponent is the Irish philosopher George Berkeley, teaches that to be is to be perceived, in the famous Latin phrase esse est percipi; nothing exists outside finite minds and the infinite mind of God. Objective Idealism, of which Plato in antiquity and Hegel in modern times are the most influential representatives, teaches that there is an objective realm of ideas, forms or absolute spirit which exists independently of any finite mind but is itself mental or spiritual in character. Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism, taught by Immanuel Kant, holds that we know only the world of phenomena as it appears to us shaped by the forms of our sensibility and the categories of our understanding; the thing-in-itself or noumenon remains unknowable. To these may be added Absolute Idealism (Hegel, F. H. Bradley, T. H. Green) which holds that all of reality forms a single, all-inclusive Absolute Mind or Spirit, and Personalistic Idealism (B. P. Bowne, E. S. Brightman) which holds that reality is a society of conscious persons, with God as the Supreme Person.
Indian philosophy has its own ancient and rich tradition of Idealism. The Advaita Vedanta of Adi Shankaracharya teaches that Brahman, pure consciousness, is the only reality and that the world of multiplicity is maya, an appearance produced by ignorance. The Yogachara or Vijnanavada school of Mahayana Buddhism, associated with Asanga and Vasubandhu, teaches that consciousness alone is real and that what we take to be external objects are nothing but modifications of consciousness. The Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja, while less radical, holds that Brahman is the inner self of the world and that finite souls and matter are real but utterly dependent on the divine spirit.
The arguments offered in defence of Idealism are usually grouped under four heads: epistemological, ontological, axiological or value-based, and religious. The epistemological argument runs that to know an object is necessarily to bring it within the circle of consciousness, so that no object can be known apart from a mind. The ontological argument runs that mind is the only kind of being that knows itself directly, so the only known reality is mental. The argument from value is that the highest realities we encounter—truth, goodness, beauty, justice, love—are spiritual and cannot be reduced to matter. The religious argument is that an idealistic universe is the only kind of universe in which God, soul and immortality have a meaningful place.
The standard objections to Idealism are equally well known. The charge of solipsism alleges that subjective idealism, by reducing reality to ideas in my mind, makes it impossible to escape my own consciousness and prove the existence of other minds. The scientific objection alleges that Idealism cannot do justice to the independent regularities of nature studied by physics, chemistry and biology, where the same laws operate whether or not anyone observes them. The common-sense objection alleges that ordinary experience overwhelmingly suggests an external world that exists in its own right; Idealism therefore violates the principle of common sense. Despite these objections Idealism remains a powerful and respected metaphysical position with deep educational, ethical and religious implications. In education it teaches that the highest aim is the unfolding of the spiritual personality, that the teacher is a moral and spiritual guide, and that the curriculum should emphasise literature, philosophy, religion and the humanities along with the sciences.
Textbook Questions and Answers
A. Very Short Answer Questions (1 mark)
1. What is Idealism?
Answer: Idealism is the metaphysical theory according to which reality is fundamentally mental, spiritual or ideal in nature, and the object of knowledge has no independent existence apart from a knowing mind.
2. From which Greek word is the term Idealism derived?
Answer: The term Idealism is derived from the Greek word idein, meaning to see.
3. What is the literal meaning of the word idea?
Answer: The literal meaning of the word idea, derived from the Greek idein, is that which is seen by the mind, that is, a form, pattern or essence.
4. Who first used the term Idea in a technical philosophical sense?
Answer: The Greek philosopher Plato first used the term Idea in a technical philosophical sense, applying it to the eternal Forms which he held to constitute the highest reality.
5. According to Idealism, what is the ultimate reality?
Answer: According to Idealism the ultimate reality is mind, spirit, idea or consciousness, not matter.
6. According to Idealism, does the object of knowledge have an existence independent of mind?
Answer: No, according to Idealism the object of knowledge does not have an existence independent of mind; its being depends upon being known.
7. Mention the three principal types of Idealism.
Answer: The three principal types of Idealism are Subjective Idealism, Objective Idealism and Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism.
8. Who is regarded as the chief exponent of Subjective Idealism?
Answer: The Irish philosopher Bishop George Berkeley is regarded as the chief exponent of Subjective Idealism.
9. State Berkeley’s famous Latin formula for Subjective Idealism.
Answer: Berkeley’s famous Latin formula is esse est percipi, which means to be is to be perceived.
10. Who is the chief ancient exponent of Objective Idealism?
Answer: Plato is the chief ancient exponent of Objective Idealism through his theory of eternal Forms or Ideas.
11. Who is the chief modern exponent of Objective Idealism?
Answer: The German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel is the chief modern exponent of Objective Idealism through his philosophy of Absolute Spirit.
12. Who is the chief exponent of Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism?
Answer: The German philosopher Immanuel Kant is the chief exponent of Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism.
13. What does Kant mean by phenomena?
Answer: By phenomena Kant means things as they appear to us in experience, organised by the forms of sensibility, namely space and time, and the categories of the understanding.
14. What does Kant mean by noumena?
Answer: By noumena Kant means things-in-themselves as they exist independently of the knowing mind; according to Kant noumena are unknowable to us.
15. Name the three chief exponents of Absolute Idealism.
Answer: The three chief exponents of Absolute Idealism are G. W. F. Hegel, F. H. Bradley and T. H. Green.
16. Name two chief exponents of Personalistic Idealism.
Answer: Two chief exponents of Personalistic Idealism are Borden Parker Bowne and Edgar Sheffield Brightman.
17. Who is the chief exponent of Advaita Vedanta?
Answer: Adi Shankaracharya is the chief exponent of Advaita Vedanta.
18. What is the ultimate reality according to Advaita Vedanta?
Answer: According to Advaita Vedanta the ultimate reality is Brahman, pure consciousness without any internal differentiation.
19. What does the Sanskrit term maya mean in Advaita Vedanta?
Answer: In Advaita Vedanta maya means cosmic illusion or appearance, the power by which the one Brahman appears as the manifold world to the ignorant mind.
20. Which Buddhist school is associated with Idealism?
Answer: The Yogachara or Vijnanavada school of Mahayana Buddhism, associated with Asanga and Vasubandhu, is the Buddhist school identified with Idealism.
21. What does Vijnanavada teach about external objects?
Answer: Vijnanavada teaches that external objects have no independent existence; what we take to be external objects are only modifications or images of consciousness.
22. Who is the founder of Vishishtadvaita?
Answer: The South Indian philosopher Ramanuja is the founder of Vishishtadvaita.
23. State one criticism commonly raised against Subjective Idealism.
Answer: Subjective Idealism is commonly criticised on the ground that it leads to solipsism, that is, the view that only my own self and its ideas exist.
24. State one main difference between Idealism and Realism.
Answer: The main difference is that for Idealism the object of knowledge is mind-dependent, whereas for Realism the object of knowledge has an independent existence apart from the mind.
25. According to Idealism, is value subjective or objective?
Answer: According to Idealism value is objective and spiritual; truth, goodness and beauty are real features of the universe, not mere subjective preferences.
B. Short Answer Questions (2 marks)
26. Give the etymological meaning of the term Idealism.
Answer: The term Idealism is derived from the Greek word idein, which means to see. From this verb came the noun idea, meaning that which is seen by the mind, hence a form, pattern, essence or concept. The philosophical doctrine of Idealism gets its name from this idea-centred view of reality.
27. Define Idealism in your own words.
Answer: Idealism is the metaphysical doctrine which holds that reality in its ultimate nature is mental, spiritual or ideal, that mind is the primary reality and that the object of knowledge has no existence apart from a knowing consciousness. It is opposed to materialism, which makes matter primary, and to realism, which makes the object independent of the mind.
28. State any two general characteristics of Idealism.
Answer: Two general characteristics of Idealism are: (i) the object of knowledge is mind-dependent and has no independent existence apart from the mind; and (ii) reality is purposive and spiritual rather than material and mechanical, and mind, soul and God are accepted as ultimate realities.
29. State any two more characteristics of Idealism.
Answer: Two further characteristics are: (i) values such as truth, goodness and beauty are objective features of reality and the realisation of these values is the supreme aim of human life; and (ii) the universe is a purposive and meaningful whole guided by a supreme spirit or God towards a final end.
30. Explain the meaning of esse est percipi.
Answer: Esse est percipi is a Latin phrase meaning to be is to be perceived. It is the central principle of Berkeley’s Subjective Idealism. According to Berkeley the very being of a thing consists in its being perceived; when a thing is not being perceived by any finite mind it continues to exist only because it is being perceived by the infinite mind of God.
31. What is meant by Subjective Idealism?
Answer: Subjective Idealism is the type of Idealism according to which the only realities are minds and the ideas they have. There is no independent material world; sensory things are only collections of ideas in finite minds and in the mind of God. Its chief exponent is George Berkeley, whose Latin slogan esse est percipi sums up the doctrine.
32. What is meant by Objective Idealism?
Answer: Objective Idealism is the type of Idealism which holds that there is an objective realm of ideas, forms or spirit existing independently of any finite mind but itself mental or spiritual in character. Plato’s eternal Forms and Hegel’s Absolute Spirit are the most important examples in Western philosophy.
33. What is meant by Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism?
Answer: Phenomenalism, in its Kantian form known as Transcendental Idealism, is the doctrine that we can know only the world of phenomena, that is, things as they appear to us under the conditions of our sensibility and understanding, while the noumena or things-in-themselves remain forever unknown. Its chief exponent is Immanuel Kant.
34. What is meant by Absolute Idealism?
Answer: Absolute Idealism is the doctrine that the whole of reality is one all-inclusive spiritual whole, the Absolute, of which finite minds and material objects are partial and dependent expressions. Its chief representatives are G. W. F. Hegel, F. H. Bradley and T. H. Green.
35. What is meant by Personalistic Idealism?
Answer: Personalistic Idealism is the doctrine that ultimate reality is a society of conscious persons or selves, with God as the Supreme Person. The world is the creative activity of personal spirit, and finite persons are real centres of value. Its main exponents are Borden Parker Bowne and Edgar Sheffield Brightman.
36. What is the relation between Brahman and the world according to Advaita Vedanta?
Answer: According to Advaita Vedanta Brahman alone is the one ultimate reality, and the world of plurality is an appearance of Brahman produced by maya, the power of cosmic illusion. The world is not totally non-existent but it is not real in the same sense as Brahman; it is mithya, neither real nor unreal absolutely.
37. What does the Yogachara school mean by vijnaptimatrata?
Answer: The Yogachara school’s term vijnaptimatrata means consciousness-only or representation-only. It expresses the central thesis that there are no mind-independent objects; what we call objects are simply forms taken by consciousness itself, and liberation consists in the awakening of consciousness to its own self-luminous nature.
38. State the epistemological argument for Idealism in brief.
Answer: The epistemological argument runs as follows. To know an object is to have it as a content of consciousness. We cannot know an object outside the act of knowing. Therefore everything that is known is necessarily within the circle of consciousness, and we have no warrant to assert the existence of any object outside that circle.
39. State the argument from value for Idealism in brief.
Answer: The argument from value runs as follows. The highest realities encountered in human experience—truth, goodness, beauty, justice, love—are spiritual values that cannot be reduced to physical matter. If reality contains such values, then reality cannot be merely material; it must be at least in part mental or spiritual, as Idealism asserts.
40. State two arguments commonly raised against Idealism.
Answer: Two common objections are (i) Subjective Idealism is liable to solipsism, the absurd view that only my own self and its ideas exist; and (ii) Idealism conflicts with science and common sense, since both science and ordinary experience proceed on the assumption of an external world that exists in its own right.
C. Medium Answer Questions (3-4 marks)
41. Explain the etymological meaning of Idealism with reference to Plato.
Answer: The English word idealism goes back to the Greek verb idein, meaning to see, from which arose the noun idea, meaning that which is seen by the mind, that is, a form or pattern. Plato gave this word a technical philosophical meaning by applying it to his eternal Forms or Ideas. According to Plato the things of the sense world—a particular tree, a particular horse, a particular just action—are imperfect copies of perfect, eternal, unchanging Forms that exist in a higher realm accessible only to reason. The Form of the Tree, the Form of the Horse, the Form of Justice are more real than the changing things that participate in them. Because Plato made these Forms the highest reality and saw the sense world as their imperfect image, his philosophy is the original prototype of Western Idealism, and the doctrine takes its very name from his use of the word idea.
42. Explain four general characteristics of Idealism.
Answer: Four general characteristics of Idealism may be stated as follows. (i) Mind-dependence of objects: the existence of any object of knowledge depends on its being known by some mind; apart from mind objects have no being. (ii) Primacy of mind, soul and God: mind, soul and God are accepted as ultimate realities, with God or Absolute Spirit as the supreme reality and final aim of the world process. (iii) Spiritual and purposive universe: the universe is not a chance collection of material atoms but a meaningful, purposive, spiritual whole moving towards higher and higher realisations of value. (iv) Objectivity of value: truth, goodness and beauty are objective realities, and the realisation of these values is the highest aim of human life. Together these four characteristics show that for Idealism the world is essentially a world of mind and spirit.
43. Explain Subjective Idealism with the help of Berkeley’s view.
Answer: Subjective Idealism is the doctrine that nothing exists outside finite minds and their ideas. Its classical exponent is the eighteenth-century Irish philosopher and bishop George Berkeley. Berkeley argued that all the qualities we attribute to a physical object—colour, sound, taste, smell, hardness, shape, size—are nothing but ideas in the mind of a perceiver. We never observe matter as such; we observe only ideas. Therefore the supposition of a mind-independent material substance is unnecessary and unintelligible. He summed up his doctrine in the Latin sentence esse est percipi, to be is to be perceived. To save Subjective Idealism from collapsing into solipsism Berkeley added that when no finite mind perceives an object the object continues to exist because it is constantly perceived by the infinite mind of God. The world is therefore a system of ideas, partly in finite minds and ultimately in the mind of God.
44. Explain Objective Idealism with the help of Hegel’s view.
Answer: Objective Idealism teaches that there is an objective spiritual reality independent of any finite mind, and that nature, history and human consciousness are all expressions of this spirit. Plato’s eternal Forms are the ancient prototype, but the most influential modern Objective Idealist is the German philosopher G. W. F. Hegel. According to Hegel the ultimate reality is the Absolute Spirit (Geist) which unfolds itself dialectically through nature and human history. The dialectical method moves from a thesis to its antithesis and then to a higher synthesis that contains both. Through this triadic process Spirit becomes progressively more conscious of itself: in nature it appears as unconscious externality, in human consciousness it begins to know itself, and in art, religion and philosophy it attains complete self-consciousness. The world is therefore not a dead mechanism but the self-realisation of Absolute Spirit.
45. Explain Phenomenalism or Kant’s Transcendental Idealism.
Answer: Kant’s Transcendental Idealism, sometimes called Phenomenalism, is the doctrine that we can know only the world of phenomena, never the world of things-in-themselves. According to Kant our knowledge of the world is the joint product of two factors. The first factor is the raw sensory matter given to us by external objects in space and time. The second factor is the active contribution of the knowing subject through the forms of sensibility, namely space and time, and the twelve categories of the understanding such as substance, causality and unity. The world we know is therefore a phenomenal world, structured by these subjective forms; the noumenon, the thing-in-itself behind the phenomenon, remains permanently unknowable. Kant’s doctrine is called Transcendental because it inquires into the universal and necessary conditions of any possible knowledge, and it is called Idealism because it makes the form of every known object dependent on the structure of the knowing mind.
46. Explain Absolute Idealism with reference to Hegel and Bradley.
Answer: Absolute Idealism is the doctrine that the whole of reality is one single, all-inclusive spiritual Absolute. Its two most influential exponents are Hegel in Germany and F. H. Bradley in England. Hegel’s Absolute is the Spirit (Geist) which unfolds itself dialectically through nature and history and reaches full self-consciousness in art, religion and philosophy. Bradley, in his famous book Appearance and Reality, argued that the world of finite things is shot through with contradictions—relation, time, space, change, the self—and therefore belongs only to the realm of appearance. Real reality is the Absolute, a single, harmonious, all-comprehensive experience in which all contradictions are resolved. T. H. Green, the third major Absolute Idealist, applied the doctrine to ethics, arguing that the moral life consists in the gradual realisation of the eternal consciousness in finite human beings.
47. Explain Personalistic Idealism with reference to Bowne and Brightman.
Answer: Personalistic Idealism, also known simply as Personalism, is the type of Idealism which holds that ultimate reality is a society of conscious persons or selves, with God as the Supreme Person. Its founder is the American philosopher Borden Parker Bowne, and its most distinguished later exponent is Edgar Sheffield Brightman. According to Personalism mind, soul and God are the only realities, and even what we call material things are at bottom expressions of the creative activity of personal spirit. The world is a community of persons sustained by the divine person, and finite human beings, as moral persons, have inherent dignity and worth. The doctrine is attractive because it preserves both the unity of the world (in God) and the genuine individuality and freedom of finite selves.
48. Explain Advaita Vedanta as a form of Indian Idealism.
Answer: Advaita Vedanta, founded by Adi Shankaracharya in the eighth century, is the most influential form of Indian Idealism. Its central thesis is that Brahman, pure non-dual consciousness, is the one and only reality. Brahman is sat-chit-ananda, that is, being, consciousness and bliss, and it is without any internal differentiation. The world of multiplicity—names and forms, subjects and objects, finite selves and material things—is an appearance of Brahman produced by maya, the cosmic power of illusion or ignorance. The empirical world is not totally non-existent, for it is experienced; but it is not real in the same sense as Brahman, for it is sublated in the experience of liberation. The individual self (jiva) is in essence identical with Brahman; the realisation of this identity, expressed in the Mahavakya Tat tvam asi (That thou art), is liberation (moksha).
49. Explain Yogachara or Vijnanavada Buddhism as a form of Idealism.
Answer: Yogachara, also called Vijnanavada, is the idealistic school of Mahayana Buddhism, founded by the brothers Asanga and Vasubandhu in the fourth and fifth centuries of the Common Era. Its central doctrine is vijnaptimatrata, consciousness-only. According to Yogachara what we take to be a world of mind-independent material objects is in truth nothing but the modifications of consciousness itself. Consciousness throws up images of objects from its own latent impressions (vasanas) stored in the storehouse-consciousness (alaya-vijnana). The illusion of a separate object is removed in the higher meditative knowledge in which consciousness recognises itself as alone real. Liberation consists in turning consciousness away from external pursuits and recognising its own self-luminous, non-dual nature. Yogachara is therefore one of the most rigorous forms of Idealism in the history of philosophy.
50. Explain Vishishtadvaita as a qualified form of Idealism.
Answer: Vishishtadvaita, founded by the South Indian Vaishnava philosopher Ramanuja in the eleventh century, is a qualified or modified form of Idealism. Its name means non-dualism of the qualified, that is, of Brahman together with its inseparable attributes. According to Ramanuja Brahman is a personal God, identical with Vishnu-Narayana, who has within himself two inseparable modes: cit (conscious souls) and acit (matter). Souls and matter are real, not illusory, but they have no existence apart from God; they are his body, of which he is the inner controller (antaryamin). Vishishtadvaita is idealistic in that it makes the personal Spirit the supreme reality and the inner soul of the world, but it is not as radical as Advaita because it admits the reality of finite selves and matter as dependent on God.
51. State the epistemological argument for Idealism.
Answer: The epistemological argument for Idealism may be stated as follows. To know an object is to have it as a content of one’s consciousness. Whatever I know I know only as it appears within my act of knowing. I have no way of stepping outside the circle of consciousness to compare my idea of an object with the object as it would be if no one were aware of it. Therefore the supposition of an unknown object existing entirely outside any consciousness is unintelligible. Whatever can be meaningfully spoken of as existing must in principle be capable of being known; whatever can be known is mind-dependent; therefore reality is mind-dependent. This argument was developed by Berkeley, refined by Kant, and given its most powerful modern formulation in the British and German Idealist traditions of the nineteenth century.
52. State the ontological argument for Idealism.
Answer: The ontological argument for Idealism runs as follows. Of all the kinds of being we encounter, mind is the only kind that knows itself directly and immediately. The self is given to itself with a certainty that no external object enjoys. Furthermore, the unity of the world—the way in which the parts hang together as one universe—cannot be explained by mere matter, which by itself is plural and unconnected; it can be explained only by mind, which has the capacity to unify many contents into one experience. Therefore the only kind of being whose existence is undeniable, and the only kind of being capable of explaining the unity of the world, is mind. The ultimate reality is therefore mental or spiritual.
53. State the argument from value for Idealism.
Answer: The argument from value (axiological argument) for Idealism may be stated as follows. The highest realities encountered in human experience are spiritual values such as truth, goodness, beauty, justice, love and freedom. These values cannot be exhaustively described in physical terms; the goodness of an action, the truth of a proposition or the beauty of a work of art is not a physical quality measurable by the methods of the natural sciences. If reality contains such values, then reality cannot be merely material; it must be at least in part spiritual. Idealism, which makes spirit the very substance of reality, alone provides a metaphysics in which values are at home. A purely materialistic universe could not even contain truth or beauty; therefore reality is essentially spiritual, as Idealism teaches.
54. State the religious argument for Idealism.
Answer: The religious argument for Idealism runs as follows. The major religious traditions of the world—Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism—uniformly teach that mind, soul and God are real and that the spiritual destiny of the human person is the supreme end of life. A purely materialistic philosophy can give no satisfactory account of these religious claims, since it allows reality only to physical particles in motion. Idealism, by contrast, makes spirit the ultimate reality and therefore provides a natural home for the religious convictions of mankind. The widespread and persistent religious experience of humanity is therefore a strong though not conclusive support for the truth of Idealism.
55. State the standard objections to Idealism.
Answer: Three principal objections are commonly urged against Idealism. (i) The charge of solipsism: Subjective Idealism, by reducing reality to ideas in my mind, makes it impossible to prove the existence of other finite minds; in its extreme form it implies that only I exist. (ii) The scientific objection: Idealism is held to conflict with the methods and findings of the natural sciences, which proceed on the assumption that nature has its own laws and structure independent of any observing mind. (iii) The common-sense objection: ordinary experience overwhelmingly suggests that the world we live in exists in its own right, that the table did not vanish when we left the room and reappear when we returned. Idealism, by denying this independence, is said to violate common sense. Idealists reply to all three objections, but the objections continue to be the standard challenges to the doctrine.
D. Long Answer Questions (5-6 marks)
56. Define Idealism and explain its essential characteristics.
Answer: Idealism is the metaphysical theory which holds that reality in its ultimate nature is mental, spiritual or ideal, that mind is the primary reality, and that the object of knowledge has no independent existence apart from a knowing consciousness. The English word goes back to the Greek idein, to see, from which arose idea, that which is seen by the mind. Plato gave the term its philosophical meaning by applying it to his eternal Forms, and from Plato through Berkeley, Kant, Hegel and the British Absolute Idealists Idealism has remained one of the great rival theories of metaphysics.
The essential characteristics of Idealism may be set out under five heads. First, the object of knowledge is mind-dependent: apart from being known by a mind it has no existence. Second, mind, soul and God are recognised as ultimate realities; God or Absolute Spirit is the supreme reality and the final aim of the world process. Third, the universe is purposive and spiritual, not a chance collection of material atoms; it is moving towards higher and higher realisations of value. Fourth, values such as truth, goodness and beauty are objective features of reality, and the realisation of these values is the highest aim of human life. Fifth, the human person is essentially a spiritual being, a moral agent capable of self-knowledge, freedom and the realisation of higher values. These five characteristics show that for Idealism the world is essentially a world of mind and spirit, governed by purpose and value, and oriented towards the supreme reality of God or the Absolute.
57. Discuss the main types of Idealism with their chief exponents.
Answer: Idealism is broadly divided into the following main types. (i) Subjective Idealism, whose chief exponent is the eighteenth-century Irish philosopher George Berkeley, teaches that nothing exists outside finite minds and their ideas; the principle of the doctrine is the Latin formula esse est percipi, to be is to be perceived. To save the doctrine from solipsism Berkeley appealed to the constant perception of objects by the infinite mind of God. (ii) Objective Idealism, of which Plato in antiquity and Hegel in modern times are the chief representatives, teaches that there is an objective realm of ideas, forms or spirit existing independently of any finite mind but itself mental or spiritual in character. (iii) Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism, taught by Immanuel Kant, holds that we can know only the world of phenomena structured by the forms of sensibility (space and time) and the categories of understanding; the noumenon or thing-in-itself remains unknowable. (iv) Absolute Idealism, developed by Hegel, F. H. Bradley and T. H. Green, holds that the whole of reality is one all-inclusive spiritual Absolute. (v) Personalistic Idealism, founded by Borden Parker Bowne and developed by Edgar Sheffield Brightman, holds that reality is a society of conscious persons with God as the Supreme Person. (vi) Indian Idealism, represented by Advaita Vedanta of Shankara, Yogachara Buddhism, and Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja, makes Brahman or pure consciousness the supreme reality. Together these types show that Idealism is not a single doctrine but a family of related metaphysical positions.
58. Discuss Subjective Idealism with reference to Berkeley.
Answer: Subjective Idealism is the doctrine that nothing exists except finite minds and their ideas. Its classical exponent is the Irish philosopher and Anglican bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753), whose principal works A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713) gave the doctrine its definitive form. Berkeley begins from the empiricist principle that all our knowledge comes from sense experience. He then asks: what do we actually experience? The answer is: only ideas of colours, sounds, tastes, smells, hardnesses, shapes and sizes. We never experience matter as a mind-independent substance underlying these qualities; matter is therefore a philosopher’s invention. The supposed primary qualities (extension, figure, motion) are no more independent of mind than the secondary qualities (colour, sound, taste); both are nothing but ideas in the mind of a perceiver. Berkeley therefore concludes that the very being of a sensible thing consists in its being perceived: esse est percipi. To prevent the doctrine from collapsing into solipsism—the view that only my own self and its ideas exist—Berkeley argued that when no finite mind perceives an object it continues to exist because it is constantly perceived by the infinite mind of God. The orderly succession of our sensations is therefore the language of God, and the world is a vast system of ideas in finite minds and ultimately in the divine mind. Berkeley’s Subjective Idealism is one of the boldest and most rigorously argued positions in the history of philosophy, and although it has been heavily criticised it has never been finally refuted.
59. Discuss Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism with reference to Kant.
Answer: Transcendental Idealism is the philosophical position developed by the German philosopher Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) in his masterpiece The Critique of Pure Reason (1781). Kant began from the conflict between Continental Rationalism, which made reason the source of knowledge, and British Empiricism, which made sense-experience the source. He argued that knowledge is the joint product of two factors. The first factor is the raw sensory matter given to us through the affection of our senses by external things. The second factor is the active contribution of the knowing subject. The mind contributes the forms of sensibility, namely space and time, which are not features of things-in-themselves but a priori forms in which the mind orders sensory matter. The mind further contributes the twelve categories of the understanding—substance, causality, unity, plurality, totality, possibility, necessity and so on—through which the manifold of sensation is unified into objects of experience. The world we know is therefore a phenomenal world, structured by space, time and the categories; the noumenon, the thing-in-itself behind the phenomenon, remains permanently inaccessible to our theoretical reason.
Kant’s doctrine is called Transcendental because it inquires into the universal and necessary conditions of any possible knowledge; it is called Idealism because it makes the form of every known object dependent on the structure of the knowing mind. Yet Kant carefully distinguished his Transcendental Idealism from Berkeley’s Subjective Idealism: he affirmed an independent thing-in-itself which gives the matter of sensation, while Berkeley denied any extra-mental reality. Kant’s Transcendental Idealism is the most influential idealistic position in modern philosophy, and it forms the starting point of the great German Idealist tradition of Fichte, Schelling and Hegel.
60. Discuss Indian Idealism with special reference to Advaita Vedanta.
Answer: Indian philosophy has a long and rich tradition of Idealism. Three schools are especially important: Advaita Vedanta of Shankara, Yogachara or Vijnanavada Buddhism, and Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja. The most influential of these is Advaita Vedanta, founded in its classical form by Adi Shankaracharya in the eighth century. Its central thesis is that Brahman, pure non-dual consciousness, is the one and only ultimate reality. Brahman is described as sat-chit-ananda, that is, being, consciousness and bliss, and it is without any internal differentiation. The world of multiplicity—names and forms, subjects and objects, finite selves and material things—is an appearance of Brahman produced by maya, the cosmic power of illusion. The empirical world is not totally non-existent, for it is experienced and behaves consistently in our practical life; but it is not real in the same sense as Brahman, for it is sublated in the experience of liberation, just as the snake is sublated when one realises that what one took for a snake is in truth only a rope.
The individual self (jiva) is in essence identical with Brahman; the apparent difference is due to ignorance (avidya). The realisation of this identity, expressed in the Upanishadic Mahavakyas such as Tat tvam asi (That thou art) and Aham brahmasmi (I am Brahman), is liberation (moksha). Yogachara Buddhism teaches the doctrine of vijnaptimatrata or consciousness-only, according to which what we take to be external objects are nothing but modifications of consciousness. Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja, while less radical, makes the personal Spirit the supreme reality and treats finite souls and matter as the body of God of which God is the inner controller. Together these schools show that Idealism is not a peculiarly Western doctrine; it has a deep and ancient root in the Indian intellectual tradition.
61. State the principal arguments in favour of Idealism.
Answer: The arguments in favour of Idealism are usually classified under four heads: epistemological, ontological, axiological (value-based) and religious. (i) The epistemological argument holds that to know an object is to have it as a content of consciousness; we can never step outside the circle of consciousness to grasp an object as it would be if no one knew it; therefore everything that is known is mind-dependent and reality, so far as it is intelligibly affirmed, is mental. (ii) The ontological argument holds that mind is the only kind of being that knows itself directly and that the unity of the world cannot be explained by mere matter but only by mind, which alone has the capacity to unify many contents into one experience; therefore the ultimate reality is mental or spiritual. (iii) The argument from value holds that the highest realities encountered in human experience are spiritual values such as truth, goodness and beauty, which cannot be reduced to physical matter; if reality contains such values it cannot be merely material but must be at least in part spiritual. (iv) The religious argument holds that the major religious traditions of the world uniformly teach that mind, soul and God are real and that the spiritual destiny of the human person is the supreme end of life; only an idealistic philosophy can do justice to these religious convictions. Together these arguments give a strong cumulative case for the truth of Idealism.
62. State and discuss the principal objections to Idealism.
Answer: Three principal objections are commonly urged against Idealism. (i) The charge of solipsism: Subjective Idealism, by reducing reality to ideas in my mind, seems to make it impossible to prove the existence of any other mind. In its extreme form it implies that only I exist, a position which, although strictly irrefutable, is universally felt to be absurd. Berkeley tried to escape this consequence by appealing to the perception of all things by the mind of God, but critics doubt whether this device really succeeds. (ii) The scientific objection: Idealism is held to conflict with the methods and findings of the natural sciences, which proceed on the assumption that nature has its own structure and laws independent of any observing mind. The same gravitational force operated on falling bodies long before there were any minds to observe them; the same chemical reactions occur in distant stars where no one is looking. To say that all this depends on being perceived strikes the scientist as a violation of the ordinary scientific outlook. (iii) The common-sense objection: ordinary experience overwhelmingly suggests that the world we live in exists in its own right; the table does not vanish when we leave the room and reappear when we return. By denying this independence Idealism is said to violate the principle of common sense. Idealists reply to all three objections—pointing out, for example, that the unity of nature even in the absence of observers can itself be explained by the constant perception of God or the Absolute, and that common sense is not the final court of philosophy—but the objections continue to be the standard challenges to the doctrine.
63. Compare and contrast Idealism and Realism.
Answer: Idealism and Realism are the two great rival theories of metaphysics. They differ on the most fundamental question of all: what is the relation between the knowing mind and the object known?
For Idealism the object of knowledge is mind-dependent. Reality is mental, spiritual or ideal in nature. Mind is primary; matter, if it exists at all, is secondary or derivative. The universe is purposive and spiritual; values such as truth, goodness and beauty are objective features of reality; mind, soul and God are real, and God is the supreme reality. The chief exponents are Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Bradley, Bowne and Brightman in the West and Shankara, Vasubandhu and Ramanuja in India.
For Realism the object of knowledge has an independent, mind-independent existence. Reality includes both matter and mind, but matter is not reducible to mind. Knowledge consists in the mind’s grasp of an external world that exists in its own right, whether or not it is known. Science, with its insistence on the objectivity of nature, is naturally allied to Realism. The chief exponents are Aristotle, John Locke, G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell and the Neo-Realists.
The two doctrines therefore agree that there is an external world but disagree on its ultimate nature: Idealism reduces it to mind, Realism affirms it as independent of mind. They also differ on the status of values: Idealism makes values objective and central, Realism treats them as a separate problem from metaphysics. Both have powerful arguments and serious objections, and the contest between them is one of the perennial debates of philosophy.
64. Discuss the educational implications of Idealism.
Answer: Idealism has profound implications for education. (i) Aim of education: For an idealist, the supreme aim of education is the unfolding of the spiritual personality of the child—the realisation of truth, goodness and beauty in the developing self. Education is not mere preparation for earning a living but the formation of a moral and spiritual being. (ii) Curriculum: The curriculum should give a central place to subjects that nourish the spirit—literature, philosophy, religion, history, art and music—alongside the natural sciences. The classics, the great works of human thought, are particularly important because they embody the highest achievements of the human spirit. (iii) Methods of teaching: The idealist teacher relies on dialogue, discussion, reflection and the example of great lives rather than on mechanical drill. The Socratic method of questioning and answering, by which the teacher draws the truth out of the student rather than pouring it in, is the most characteristic idealist method. (iv) Discipline: Discipline is to be inner and self-imposed, the discipline of a person who has come to love truth and goodness, not the external discipline of fear and reward. (v) The teacher: The teacher is a moral and spiritual guide, an exemplar of values, not merely a transmitter of information. (vi) The student: The student is a spiritual being whose worth is intrinsic and infinite; the school must respect this dignity. The educational thought of Plato in the Republic, of Pestalozzi, Froebel, Hegel, T. H. Green and Sri Aurobindo all bear the unmistakable stamp of Idealism, and Idealism remains one of the most influential philosophies of education in the world today.
Additional Important Questions and Answers
Multiple Choice Questions (MCQ)
1. The word Idealism is derived from the Greek word (a) eidos only (b) idein meaning to see (c) logos (d) nous.
Answer: (b) idein meaning to see.
2. The chief exponent of Subjective Idealism is (a) Plato (b) Hegel (c) Berkeley (d) Kant.
Answer: (c) Berkeley.
3. The Latin formula esse est percipi means (a) to think is to be (b) to be is to be perceived (c) I think therefore I am (d) being is becoming.
Answer: (b) to be is to be perceived.
4. The chief modern exponent of Objective Idealism is (a) Locke (b) Hume (c) Hegel (d) Russell.
Answer: (c) Hegel.
5. The chief exponent of Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism is (a) Kant (b) Berkeley (c) Bradley (d) Bowne.
Answer: (a) Kant.
6. According to Kant, the unknowable thing-in-itself is called (a) phenomenon (b) noumenon (c) idea (d) sensation.
Answer: (b) noumenon.
7. The two forms of sensibility according to Kant are (a) substance and causality (b) space and time (c) unity and plurality (d) reason and understanding.
Answer: (b) space and time.
8. The chief exponent of Advaita Vedanta is (a) Ramanuja (b) Madhva (c) Shankaracharya (d) Vallabha.
Answer: (c) Shankaracharya.
9. According to Advaita Vedanta, the ultimate reality is (a) Atman only (b) Brahman (c) Maya (d) Prakriti.
Answer: (b) Brahman.
10. The Buddhist school identified with Idealism is (a) Madhyamika (b) Yogachara (c) Sautrantika (d) Vaibhashika.
Answer: (b) Yogachara.
11. Vishishtadvaita is associated with (a) Shankara (b) Ramanuja (c) Madhva (d) Vallabha.
Answer: (b) Ramanuja.
12. The chief exponent of Personalistic Idealism is (a) Hegel (b) Bradley (c) Bowne (d) Locke.
Answer: (c) Bowne.
13. F. H. Bradley is famous as an exponent of (a) Subjective Idealism (b) Personalistic Idealism (c) Absolute Idealism (d) Realism.
Answer: (c) Absolute Idealism.
14. Plato held that the highest reality consists of (a) sensible things (b) eternal Forms or Ideas (c) atoms (d) elementary qualities.
Answer: (b) eternal Forms or Ideas.
15. The Sanskrit word for cosmic illusion in Advaita Vedanta is (a) avidya only (b) maya (c) prakriti (d) lila.
Answer: (b) maya.
16. The doctrine that only my own self and its ideas exist is called (a) Idealism (b) Realism (c) solipsism (d) phenomenalism.
Answer: (c) solipsism.
17. Idealism is opposed mainly to (a) Empiricism (b) Rationalism (c) Materialism and Realism (d) Pragmatism.
Answer: (c) Materialism and Realism.
18. The Yogachara term meaning consciousness-only is (a) sunyata (b) tathata (c) vijnaptimatrata (d) pratitya-samutpada.
Answer: (c) vijnaptimatrata.
19. The Mahavakya Tat tvam asi means (a) I am Brahman (b) That thou art (c) All this is Brahman (d) Brahman alone is real.
Answer: (b) That thou art.
20. The chief British Absolute Idealist is (a) Locke (b) Hume (c) Bradley (d) Russell.
Answer: (c) Bradley.
Fill in the Blanks
1. The word Idealism is derived from the Greek word ______.
Answer: idein.
2. ______ first used the term Idea in a technical philosophical sense.
Answer: Plato.
3. ______ is the chief exponent of Subjective Idealism.
Answer: Berkeley.
4. The Latin formula of Subjective Idealism is ______.
Answer: esse est percipi.
5. ______ is the chief exponent of Phenomenalism or Transcendental Idealism.
Answer: Kant.
6. According to Kant, ______ are things as they appear and ______ are things-in-themselves.
Answer: phenomena, noumena.
7. According to Advaita Vedanta, ______ is the ultimate reality.
Answer: Brahman.
8. According to Advaita Vedanta, the world is the appearance of Brahman due to ______.
Answer: maya.
9. ______ is the founder of Vishishtadvaita.
Answer: Ramanuja.
10. The chief Buddhist Idealist school is ______.
Answer: Yogachara (Vijnanavada).
11. ______ is the founder of Personalistic Idealism.
Answer: B. P. Bowne.
12. ______ is the most famous British Absolute Idealist.
Answer: F. H. Bradley.
13. The chief modern exponent of Objective Idealism is ______.
Answer: Hegel.
14. The view that only my own self exists is called ______.
Answer: solipsism.
15. Hegel’s ultimate reality is called the ______.
Answer: Absolute Spirit (Geist).
True or False
1. According to Idealism, the object of knowledge has an independent existence apart from the mind.
Answer: False. According to Idealism the object of knowledge is mind-dependent and has no independent existence apart from the mind.
2. Berkeley is the chief exponent of Subjective Idealism.
Answer: True.
3. Kant held that we can know the thing-in-itself.
Answer: False. Kant held that the thing-in-itself or noumenon is unknowable.
4. According to Advaita Vedanta, Brahman is the only reality.
Answer: True.
5. Yogachara teaches that there are mind-independent material objects.
Answer: False. Yogachara teaches consciousness-only and denies mind-independent material objects.
6. Plato is regarded as the chief ancient exponent of Objective Idealism.
Answer: True.
7. Hegel’s ultimate reality is matter.
Answer: False. Hegel’s ultimate reality is the Absolute Spirit.
8. Personalistic Idealism makes God a Supreme Person.
Answer: True.
9. Idealism is fully consistent with materialism.
Answer: False. Idealism is opposed to materialism.
10. Subjective Idealism is sometimes accused of leading to solipsism.
Answer: True.
11. Bradley is a Personalistic Idealist.
Answer: False. Bradley is an Absolute Idealist.
12. T. H. Green is associated with Absolute Idealism.
Answer: True.
13. Vishishtadvaita treats finite souls and matter as totally illusory.
Answer: False. Vishishtadvaita treats them as real but dependent on God.
14. According to Idealism, mind is the primary reality.
Answer: True.
15. Idealism conflicts with the religious belief in God and soul.
Answer: False. Idealism is in harmony with the religious belief in God and soul.
Additional Short and Long Questions
1. Why is Idealism opposed to Materialism?
Answer: Idealism is opposed to Materialism because the two doctrines give diametrically opposite answers to the question of what is the ultimate reality. Materialism holds that matter is the only reality and that mind, consciousness and value are by-products of material processes. Idealism, by contrast, holds that mind, spirit or idea is the ultimate reality and that matter, if it exists at all, is dependent on or expressive of mind. The two philosophies further differ on the status of value: Materialism tends to treat truth, goodness and beauty as subjective preferences, whereas Idealism treats them as objective features of reality. Because the disagreement extends to the nature of the world, the nature of the self and the meaning of value, Idealism and Materialism are systematic opposites.
2. Distinguish between Subjective and Objective Idealism.
Answer: Subjective Idealism, of which Berkeley is the chief exponent, holds that nothing exists outside finite minds and the ideas they have, plus the infinite mind of God who guarantees the orderly succession of these ideas. Objective Idealism, of which Plato in antiquity and Hegel in modern times are the chief representatives, holds that there is an objective realm of ideas, forms or spirit which exists independently of any finite mind but is itself mental or spiritual in character. The fundamental difference is therefore that Subjective Idealism makes reality depend on finite minds (with God as a guarantee), while Objective Idealism affirms an independent realm of objective ideas or spirit. Subjective Idealism is consequently in greater danger of slipping into solipsism, whereas Objective Idealism faces the difficulty of explaining the relation between the objective realm of ideas and the world of finite things.
3. Distinguish between Absolute Idealism and Personalistic Idealism.
Answer: Absolute Idealism, taught by Hegel, Bradley and Green, holds that the whole of reality is one all-inclusive spiritual Absolute of which finite minds and material objects are partial and dependent expressions; the unity of the world is so total that finite individuals are absorbed into the Absolute. Personalistic Idealism, taught by Bowne and Brightman, holds that ultimate reality is a society of conscious persons, with God as the Supreme Person; the unity of the world is preserved by the activity of God, but finite persons are real centres of value with genuine individuality and freedom. The principal difference is that Absolute Idealism tends to swallow up finite individuals in the Absolute, whereas Personalistic Idealism preserves the dignity, individuality and freedom of the finite person.
4. What is meant by the dialectical method of Hegel?
Answer: The dialectical method of Hegel is the method by which Absolute Spirit unfolds itself in nature and history. The method moves in three stages. The first stage is the thesis, an initial position. The second stage is the antithesis, an opposition that arises out of the inner contradictions of the thesis. The third stage is the synthesis, a higher unity that contains and resolves both the thesis and the antithesis. The synthesis then becomes a new thesis, generating a new antithesis, and so on, until the dialectic reaches the all-comprehensive Absolute. Through this dialectical process Hegel sought to show that nature, human history, art, religion and philosophy are progressive self-realisations of Absolute Spirit.
5. Explain the doctrine of maya in Advaita Vedanta.
Answer: The doctrine of maya in Advaita Vedanta is the explanation Shankaracharya offered for the appearance of multiplicity in the one Brahman. Brahman alone is the ultimate reality, pure non-dual consciousness; yet the world appears to us as a multiplicity of names and forms, subjects and objects, finite selves and material things. This appearance is due to maya, the cosmic power of illusion, which is neither real nor unreal but indescribable (anirvachaniya). Maya conceals the true nature of Brahman and projects in its place the world of plurality. The classical illustration is the rope mistaken for a snake: just as one mistakenly perceives a snake where there is in fact only a rope, so the ignorant mind mistakenly perceives a world of multiplicity where there is in fact only the one Brahman. With the dawn of true knowledge the snake disappears and the rope alone remains; similarly, with the dawn of liberating knowledge the world disappears and Brahman alone remains.
6. State the principal differences between Idealism and Realism.
Answer: The principal differences between Idealism and Realism may be stated as follows. (i) Status of the object: Idealism makes the object mind-dependent; Realism makes the object mind-independent. (ii) Ultimate reality: Idealism makes mind, spirit or idea the ultimate reality; Realism allows reality to both matter and mind, with matter not reducible to mind. (iii) Relation to science: Realism is naturally allied to the natural sciences; Idealism is naturally allied to the humanities and to religion. (iv) Status of value: Idealism makes truth, goodness and beauty objective features of reality; Realism treats them as a separate problem. (v) Place of God: Idealism gives God a central place as the supreme spirit; Realism does not by itself decide the question of God. (vi) Chief exponents: Idealism—Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Bradley, Bowne, Shankara; Realism—Aristotle, Locke, Moore, Russell, Neo-Realists.
7. Why is Plato considered the founder of Idealism?
Answer: Plato is considered the founder of Idealism because he was the first philosopher to develop a systematic metaphysics in which eternal Forms or Ideas constitute the highest reality and the things of the sense world are only their imperfect copies. The very word idea, taken from the Greek idein meaning to see, became the technical term for these Forms in his philosophy, and the doctrine of Idealism takes its name from this usage. Plato’s Republic, Phaedo and Symposium set out the theory of Forms with unmatched eloquence, and his pupil Aristotle, even when criticising the theory, accepted that Forms have some kind of reality in things. Through the Neo-Platonists, the early Christian Fathers and the medieval scholastics, Plato’s idealism became the deepest current in Western metaphysics, and even the modern Idealists from Berkeley and Kant through Hegel and Bradley acknowledge Plato as their philosophical ancestor.
8. What is the educational significance of Idealism?
Answer: The educational significance of Idealism is that it provides a deeply value-centred and spiritual conception of education. The aim of education is the unfolding of the spiritual personality of the child—the realisation of truth, goodness and beauty in the developing self. The curriculum should give a central place to subjects that nourish the spirit—literature, philosophy, religion, history, art, music—alongside the natural sciences. The methods of teaching are dialogical, reflective and imitative, with the example of great lives and great works as the principal instruments. Discipline is inner and self-imposed, the discipline of one who has come to love truth and goodness. The teacher is a moral and spiritual guide, an exemplar of values, not merely a transmitter of information. The student is treated as a spiritual being whose worth is intrinsic and infinite. The educational thought of Plato, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Hegel, T. H. Green and Sri Aurobindo all bear the unmistakable stamp of Idealism, and many of the noblest features of modern education—the emphasis on character formation, on the dignity of the child, on the cultivation of the humanities—derive ultimately from idealist sources.
9. Explain the religious importance of Idealism.
Answer: The religious importance of Idealism lies in the fact that it provides the only philosophical worldview in which the central convictions of the major religions of the world have a natural home. All religions affirm the reality of mind, soul and God, and the spiritual destiny of the human person. A purely materialistic philosophy can give no satisfactory account of these convictions, since it allows reality only to physical particles in motion. Idealism, by making spirit the ultimate reality, allows God to be conceived as the supreme spirit, the soul to be conceived as immortal, and human life to be conceived as a spiritual journey towards a final fulfilment. The deep affinity of Idealism with religion explains why so many religious thinkers—Augustine, Aquinas, Shankara, Ramanuja, Iqbal, Aurobindo, Whitehead—have been drawn to idealist or quasi-idealist metaphysics, and why Idealism continues to be the favoured philosophy of religious traditions throughout the world.
10. Why is Idealism criticised as solipsistic?
Answer: Idealism, especially in its subjective form as taught by Berkeley, is criticised as solipsistic because it seems to make it impossible to prove the existence of any mind other than one’s own. If reality consists only of ideas in my mind, how can I be sure that other people are anything but ideas in my mind? In its extreme form Subjective Idealism therefore reduces to solipsism, the view that only my own self and its ideas exist, a position universally felt to be absurd. Berkeley tried to escape this consequence by appealing to the constant perception of all things by the infinite mind of God, but critics argue that the appeal does not really succeed: it merely shifts the problem from finite minds to the divine mind. Objective Idealism, Absolute Idealism and Personalistic Idealism are less vulnerable to this charge because they affirm an objective reality beyond any finite mind, but Subjective Idealism in its strict form has never quite escaped the solipsistic objection.
11. Explain in brief the contribution of T. H. Green to Idealism.
Answer: Thomas Hill Green (1836-1882) was an English philosopher and one of the chief exponents of British Absolute Idealism. His most important work, Prolegomena to Ethics (published posthumously in 1883), develops an idealist account of moral and political philosophy. Green argued that the natural world, the human self and the moral life can be understood only in terms of an eternal consciousness that gradually realises itself in finite human beings. The moral life is the gradual reproduction of this eternal consciousness in the finite self, and the political community is the medium in which this self-realisation becomes possible. Green’s idealism gave a powerful theoretical foundation to the late-nineteenth-century movement for social reform in Britain, and through his influence on the New Liberalism and later on the British Welfare State, idealist philosophy had a direct effect on public life.
12. What is meant by Berkeley’s appeal to God in Subjective Idealism?
Answer: Berkeley’s appeal to God in Subjective Idealism is the device by which he tried to save his doctrine from collapse into solipsism and from violation of common sense. According to esse est percipi, the existence of a sensible thing consists in its being perceived. But surely the table in my room does not vanish when I leave it; surely the planet Pluto existed before any human astronomer observed it. Berkeley’s reply is that all unperceived things are constantly perceived by the infinite mind of God. The orderly succession of our sensations is the language of God, by which God communicates with finite minds. The world is therefore a vast system of ideas in finite minds and ultimately in the mind of God. This appeal preserves the objectivity and continuity of the world while remaining within a strictly idealist framework, but it has been criticised as bringing in God as a philosophical convenience.
13. State the main features of Indian Idealism.
Answer: Indian Idealism is represented mainly by Advaita Vedanta of Shankara, Yogachara or Vijnanavada Buddhism, and Vishishtadvaita of Ramanuja. Its main features are as follows. (i) The supreme reality is spiritual: Brahman in Advaita Vedanta and Vishishtadvaita, pure consciousness in Yogachara. (ii) The world of plurality is either an appearance produced by maya (Advaita), or a modification of consciousness (Yogachara), or the body of God dependent on him (Vishishtadvaita). (iii) The individual self in its essence is identical with the supreme spirit (Advaita), or in its essence the very stream of consciousness that constitutes reality (Yogachara), or a real but dependent mode of God (Vishishtadvaita). (iv) Liberation consists in the realisation of the spiritual nature of the self—identity with Brahman in Advaita, awakening of consciousness to its self-luminous nature in Yogachara, loving union with the personal God in Vishishtadvaita. Indian Idealism therefore shows the same essential features as Western Idealism but with a far more developed integration of philosophy and spiritual practice.
14. Why is Idealism considered favourable to ethics?
Answer: Idealism is considered favourable to ethics because it provides the only metaphysical framework in which moral values can be regarded as objective and binding. According to Idealism, truth, goodness and beauty are not subjective preferences but objective features of reality; the universe is purposive and oriented towards the realisation of these values; the human person is a moral and spiritual being capable of self-knowledge, freedom and the pursuit of higher ends. In such a universe moral obligation has a real foundation, the moral life has a real significance and the human person is treated with dignity as a bearer of intrinsic value. Materialism, by contrast, has difficulty providing any objective foundation for ethics, since on its view all values are by-products of physical processes. The great idealist ethicists—Plato, Kant, Hegel, T. H. Green—have therefore developed some of the most influential ethical systems in the history of philosophy.
15. Explain in brief the metaphysical status of the world in Idealism.
Answer: The metaphysical status of the world in Idealism varies among the different types but always remains in some way dependent on mind or spirit. In Berkeley’s Subjective Idealism the world is a system of ideas in finite minds and in the mind of God. In Plato’s Objective Idealism the world of sense is an imperfect copy of the eternal Forms. In Hegel’s Objective and Absolute Idealism the world is the dialectical self-unfolding of Absolute Spirit. In Kant’s Transcendental Idealism the world is a phenomenal world structured by the forms of sensibility and the categories of understanding. In Personalistic Idealism the world is the creative activity of personal spirit, with God as the Supreme Person. In Advaita Vedanta the world is the appearance of Brahman due to maya. In Yogachara the world is consciousness-only. Despite these differences all forms of Idealism agree that the world has no independent existence apart from mind or spirit; the world is mind-dependent through and through.
Comparative Table: Types of Idealism
| Type | Chief Exponents | Central Doctrine |
|---|---|---|
| Subjective Idealism | George Berkeley | Only finite minds, their ideas and the infinite mind of God exist; esse est percipi—to be is to be perceived. |
| Objective Idealism | Plato, Hegel | There is an objective realm of ideas, forms or spirit existing independently of finite minds but itself mental in character. |
| Phenomenalism / Transcendental Idealism | Immanuel Kant | We know only phenomena structured by the forms of sensibility (space, time) and the categories of understanding; the noumenon is unknowable. |
| Absolute Idealism | Hegel, F. H. Bradley, T. H. Green | The whole of reality is one all-inclusive spiritual Absolute of which finite minds and material objects are partial expressions. |
| Personalistic Idealism | B. P. Bowne, E. S. Brightman | Reality is a society of conscious persons, with God as the Supreme Person and finite persons as real centres of value. |
| Advaita Vedanta | Shankaracharya | Brahman alone is the ultimate reality; the world is the appearance of Brahman due to maya; the self is identical with Brahman. |
| Yogachara / Vijnanavada | Asanga, Vasubandhu | Consciousness alone is real (vijnaptimatrata); external objects are modifications of consciousness. |
| Vishishtadvaita | Ramanuja | Brahman is a personal God of whom finite souls and matter are real but dependent modes; God is the inner controller. |
Comparative Table: Idealism vs Realism
| Point of Comparison | Idealism | Realism |
|---|---|---|
| Status of object of knowledge | Mind-dependent; has no existence apart from a knowing mind. | Mind-independent; exists in its own right whether or not it is known. |
| Ultimate reality | Mind, spirit, idea or consciousness. | Both matter and mind; matter not reducible to mind. |
| Nature of universe | Purposive, spiritual, value-laden whole. | System of independent objects governed by natural laws. |
| Status of values | Truth, goodness, beauty are objective features of reality. | Treated as a separate problem; often regarded as secondary qualities or human responses. |
| Place of God | Central; God is the supreme spirit and final aim of the world. | Not entailed by realism itself; can be theistic or atheistic. |
| Method of knowing | Reflection, dialogue, intuition, reason; turning inward to spirit. | Observation, experiment, logical analysis of the external world. |
| Relation to science | Aligned more naturally with humanities and religion. | Aligned more naturally with the natural sciences. |
| Conception of self | A spiritual being, moral agent, bearer of intrinsic value. | An organism in the world, knower of an external reality. |
| Chief exponents | Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Bradley, T. H. Green, Bowne, Shankara, Vasubandhu, Ramanuja. | Aristotle, John Locke, G. E. Moore, Bertrand Russell, Neo-Realists, Critical Realists. |
| Main objections | Tendency to solipsism (especially Subjective Idealism); conflict with common sense and science. | Difficulty in explaining the unity of mind and world; problems of the relation of knowledge to its object. |
Glossary of Key Terms
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Idealism | Metaphysical theory that reality is fundamentally mental, spiritual or ideal in nature, and the object of knowledge has no independent existence apart from mind. |
| Realism | Metaphysical theory that the object of knowledge has an independent, mind-independent existence. |
| Materialism | Metaphysical theory that matter is the only reality and that mind and consciousness are by-products of material processes. |
| Idea | From Greek idein (to see); that which is seen by the mind, that is, a form, pattern, essence or concept. |
| Form | In Plato, an eternal, unchanging, perfect pattern of which sensible things are imperfect copies. |
| Subjective Idealism | Type of Idealism (Berkeley) which holds that nothing exists outside finite minds and the ideas they have, plus the infinite mind of God. |
| Objective Idealism | Type of Idealism (Plato, Hegel) which holds that there is an objective realm of ideas or spirit existing independently of any finite mind. |
| Phenomenalism / Transcendental Idealism | Type of Idealism (Kant) which holds that we know only phenomena structured by the forms of sensibility and the categories of understanding; the noumenon is unknowable. |
| Absolute Idealism | Type of Idealism (Hegel, Bradley, Green) which holds that the whole of reality is one all-inclusive spiritual Absolute. |
| Personalistic Idealism | Type of Idealism (Bowne, Brightman) which holds that reality is a society of conscious persons with God as the Supreme Person. |
| Esse est percipi | Latin phrase, “to be is to be perceived”; Berkeley’s central principle of Subjective Idealism. |
| Phenomenon | In Kant, a thing as it appears to us in experience, organised by the forms of sensibility (space and time) and the categories of understanding. |
| Noumenon | In Kant, a thing-in-itself as it exists independently of the knowing mind; held by Kant to be unknowable. |
| Forms of sensibility | In Kant, the a priori forms space and time through which the mind organises sensory matter. |
| Categories of understanding | In Kant, the twelve a priori concepts (substance, causality, unity, plurality, etc.) through which the mind unifies the manifold of sensation into objects. |
| Absolute | In Hegel and Bradley, the all-inclusive spiritual reality of which everything finite is a partial expression. |
| Geist | German word for spirit or mind; Hegel’s term for the Absolute as Spirit. |
| Dialectic | Hegel’s method of thought in which a thesis generates an antithesis and the two are reconciled in a higher synthesis. |
| Brahman | In Vedanta, the ultimate non-dual reality, pure consciousness, described as sat-chit-ananda. |
| Atman | In Vedanta, the inmost self of the human being, identical in essence with Brahman. |
| Maya | In Advaita Vedanta, the cosmic power of illusion by which the one Brahman appears as the manifold world. |
| Avidya | In Vedanta, ignorance, the proximate cause of bondage to the world of plurality. |
| Moksha | In Indian philosophy, liberation, the final goal of human life. |
| Vijnaptimatrata | Yogachara term meaning consciousness-only; the doctrine that only consciousness is real. |
| Alaya-vijnana | Yogachara term for the storehouse-consciousness in which all latent impressions are stored. |
| Vishishtadvaita | Ramanuja’s doctrine of qualified non-dualism, in which Brahman has finite souls and matter as inseparable modes or body. |
| Solipsism | The view that only my own self and its ideas exist; the extreme consequence sometimes drawn from Subjective Idealism. |
| Metaphysics | The branch of philosophy concerned with the ultimate nature of reality. |
| Epistemology | The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature, sources and limits of knowledge. |
| Axiology | The branch of philosophy concerned with values—truth, goodness, beauty, justice and the like. |
| Ontology | The branch of metaphysics concerned with the nature and categories of being. |
This brings us to the close of our study of Class 11 Logic and Philosophy Chapter 15: Idealism. Idealism is one of the great metaphysical theories of the world, with deep roots in both Western and Indian thought. Through the work of Plato, Berkeley, Kant, Hegel, Bradley, Bowne, Shankara, Vasubandhu and Ramanuja, the doctrine has developed into a family of related positions, each addressing in its own way the central question of the relation between mind and reality. Although Idealism faces serious objections from solipsism, science and common sense, it continues to provide one of the most powerful metaphysical foundations for ethics, religion and education. Master the definitions, types, exponents, arguments and educational implications discussed above, and you will be ready not only to answer any examination question on this chapter but also to think more deeply about the nature of the world and your own place in it. Best wishes for your ASSEB Higher Secondary First Year examination from the team at HSLC Guru.