Philosophy Stack Exchange
Philosophy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [idealism]

Idealism is the metaphysical belief that reality is immaterial and based upon mental constructs.

Idealism is the metaphysical belief that reality is immaterial and based upon mental constructs.

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Why has the philosophy of Bishop Berkeley fallen out of favor in academic philosophy?

I studied George Berkeley as an undergraduate, and though I absolutely loved his work and his philosophy, many of my peers, and even some of my professors, found his philosophy wholly unappealing, even worth mocking. My school offered full classes…
dimo414
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How does Berkeley justify existence of other minds?

I don't understand how Berkeley justifies existence of other minds in his system. Is it something that he takes for granted? Because, his position seems very close to that of a solipsist except for acknowledgement of other minds. You'll perceive…
Non-Being
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How does Schopenhauer maintain idealism without God?

In Berkeley's idealism God holds the world together, enabling us to avoid chaos and experience a shared, orderly reality. But Schopenhauer is an idealist and an atheist. How can we then explain the shared experience of reality? What holds everything…
Bill Herd
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Is there a known limit to relationship between physics and mathematics?

I am much interested in discussions such as Wigner's "The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Mathematics in the Natural Sciences". It's quite amazing that mathematics so well applies to our universe, and this raises many interesting questions which have…
Alex Nye
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Why does Chalmers' argument about "the hard problem" not entail idealism?

Chalmers famously argues in Facing Up to the Problem of Consciousness: At the end of the day, the same criticism applies to any purely physical account of consciousness. For any physical process we specify there will be an unanswered question: Why…
David Lewis
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German philosophers on (french) revolution

I'm reading an essay written by the Italian philosopher Remo Bodei, where he examines the thoughts of some German philosopher on the french revolution and revolutions in general. According to him, Kant stated that citizens do not have the right to…
Nicol
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If the Platonic world exists how would we know?

If we assume existence of a non-material world of ideas that mathematics describes there are some questions that a Platonist has to address. 1) How is the ideal world related to the real one, where mathematics also plays a role? 2) How do we gain…
Conifold
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Should a solipsist get life insurance?

What are the reasons for a convinced metaphysical solipsist to get life insurance?
tejasvi88
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If all we see is the sensible world, what are the proofs to affirm that matter exists?

I am new to philosophy and I have been looking for a way to find answers to my disturbing doubt for a long time, I was reading Berkeley but I did not find a convincing refutation, especially because what they say to refute "the master argument"…
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Dynamic concept of "truth"

I've recently read a book in which a certain sentence sparked a question in my mind: "the Platonic philosophy is a search for truth, the certain truth. Such truth... is necessarily static" (emphasis mine) This popped a question to my head - is…
Yechiam Weiss
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Was Plato an idealist or a realist?

I'm a bit confused. As far as I know realism is opposed to idealism. But we can say that Plato was an idealist when speaking about Plato's forms. We also talk about Plato's realism in the philosophy of mathematics for instance. I also read that Kurt…
Boris
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Are there philosophies that call for things which are not mind nor matter?

Physicalism is the idea that everything is matter. Idealism is the idea that everything is made up of a mental substance. Dualism claims that there are both matter and mind in the universe. It appears a large portion of philosophy seems to be…
Cort Ammon
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What is the current state of the Correspondence Theory of Truth?

Is the Correspondent Theory of Truth currently the most important way of thinking about the nature of truth? What alternatives are important? Is there a version of the Correspondent Theory of Truth which avoids Idealism? (Idealism seems to pop up…
DSP
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Does idealism allow for thought without any sensory input?

As I understand, idealism is the view that the mind is fundamental and the body as well as the world we perceive are just derivatives of the mind. Is this right? If so, if we had a hypothetical being, which could accept no sensory input (deaf,…
Eyob Tsegaye
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What would it mean for time not to be real?

According to Kant, time is a pure intuition, meaning (in part) that its existence depends on the nature of human cognition. According to this doctrine, Other beings could in principle not experience time though they live in our universe. There are…
David Gudeman
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