PHILO SOCIAL

Report

Prepared by:

Angelina Guadamor – Sante

Catherine A. Montes
Meaning of Idealism
• The word, “Idealism” may be derived from the ‘ideals. Ideals or higher values are
essences. They are of ultimate cosmic significance. They are more important in human
life than anything else. They are eternal and unchanging. They have no dimensions such
as length of breadth and as such different from material forces.

Definitions of idealism
• According to J.S. Ross, "Idealistic philosophy takes many and varied forms, but the
postulate underlying all this is that mind of spirit is the essential world stuff, that the
true reality is of a mental character."
• According to Brubacher, "Idealists point out that it is mind that is central in
understanding the world. To them nothing gives a greater sense of reality than the
activity of mind engaged in trying to comprehend its world. “
• According to Harold Titus, "Idealism, asserts that reality consists of ideas, thoughts,
minds, or selves rather than materials, objects and force."

What is idealism?
• Idealism is a philosophical doctrine which holds the view that ideas are the only reality.
• Hence, for the idealist, there is no external reality, and that the world is consisting of
ideas.
• In fact, for the idealists, material things are not real because they are mutable and
destructible.
• This is because whatever that is mutable and destructible keeps on changing, and
whatever that keeps on changing cannot be real.
• Only ideas, therefore, are real for the idealists because ideas do not change – they are
immutable and destructible.
• Idealist associate reality with mind rather than with material things.
Hence, the mind for idealist is the essence of reality and that ideas are the only
permanent reality.

Plato
• A Greek philosopher was a well-known figure in idealism believes that the physical
world is not real because the physical word constantly changes, one cannot rally tell
what it is really is.
• In his seminal work titled the republic, Plato introduced the two kinds of world, namely,
the world of forms or idea and the world of matter.
• According to Plato, any material object that exists in the of matter is just a copy of the
object that exist in the world of forms.
 Example (tree)
• The tree we experience I the world of matter is not real because it is mutable,
destructible, and changeable.
• The real tree is the one that exist in the world of form, that is, the tree that exists on the
level of idea.
• Our conception of any material object, for example a tree, is the form of those material
objects. In other words, the idea of a tree is, for Plato, the form of the tree is the real
tree.

Idealism in philosophy
• 1. Metaphysics: - Metaphysics deals with reality Idealism believes that mind is real.
The basic reality consists of or closely related to mind. ideas, thoughts, or selves. Mind
is the controller and explainer of phenomena. World is the creation of the mind and not
a natural phenomenon. The universe can be comprehended through the mind because
both mind and the universe are reconstructed of the same elements, intellect, and
spiritual essence. Spirit is the fundamental constituent for the universe. True reality is
spiritual.
• Idealism believes that the Universal Mind or God. He is the Creator, and all others are
the created. he is the Infinite Mind and the source of all human values. We all exist for
Him. The goal of all human activities is the realization of the Infinite Mind.
• 2. Epistemology: - Epistemology deals with the problem of knowledge and truth.
According to idealism, knowledge is the ultimate reality and that is the highest and the
worthiest. Knowledge is obtained through the medium of concepts, ideas, or the mind.
Mind is the store house of knowledge, a reservoir. Real knowledge cannot be obtained
through the methods of observation and experimentation etc.; it can be obtained with
an understanding of the inner self. Pragmatists advocate that the sources of attaining
knowledge are intuition, authority, revelation, meditation, and salvation, etc.

The essential orientation of idealism can be sensed through some of its

typical tenets:
• “Truth is the whole, or the Absolute”.
• “To be is to be perceived”.
• “Reality reveals its ultimate nature more faithfully in its highest qualities (mental) than
in its lowest (material)”.
• “The Ego is both subject and object.”

Features of Idealism
• 1. Priority of mind and the self: - Idealism emphasize the priority of the mind and the
self. Mind, according to idealism, is prior to matter. Whereas materialism says that
matter is real, and mind is an accompanying phenomenon, idealism believes that mind
is real, and matter is in sense a byproduct. The basic reality consists of or is closely
 related to mind, ideas, thoughts, or selves. Mind is the controller and the explainer of
phenomena. World is the creation of the mind and not a natural phenomenon.
• 2. The universe exists in spirit: - According to idealism, the spirit is the fundamental
constituent of the universe. True reality is spiritual or thought. Thought, experience,
value, and personality are more real than the material things of the external world.
Matter in its essence is also spiritual and every atom has life, mind, and energy.
• 3. Distinctive nature of man: - Idealism believes that man is not a mere animal. He is
a superior creation. He possesses dignity and distinctiveness. He has certain powers
which are manifested in his intellectual attainments, his culture, art, morality, religion
and so on. He is not a helpless creature in his environment. He has the power to mold
it according to his need. According to Ross, "Human personality is supreme and
constitutes the noblest work of God."

Key Figures of Idealism

1. Socrates
2. Plato
3. St. Augustine
4. Rene Descartes
5. George Berkeley
6. Immanuel Kant
7. George W.F. Hegel

Socrates
• He was an ancient Greek Philosopher. He left behind no writings of his own, he is
known through Plato, one of his students. Plato used the life of his teacher and the
Socratic Method of inquiry to advance a philosophy of idealism.

Development of Idealism
1. Platonic Idealism
2. Religious Idealism
3. Modern Idealism

❖ Platonic Idealism (Plato 427-347 B.C.)

➢ “People should concern themselves in searching for truth.”
➢ People do not create knowledge, but rather they discover it.
Plato is considered by many to be the most important philosopher who lived. He is known
as the father of idealism in philosophy. He believed that eternal truths exist in the real ideas
rather than in what we could call the natural, physical world.
He also said that every person you see and spends time with will someday die, but the
concept or idea of “person” is unchanging or relatively eternal.
Platonic love as devised by Plato is the rising through levels of closeness to wisdom and
true beauty from carnal attraction to souls, and eventually, union with the truth.
❖ Religious Idealism
➢ Idealism has exerted considerable influence on religion.
➢ Religion (God as Universal Good); Idealism (Truth as Good)

Augustine (354-430 B.C.)

➢ He believed that God already created knowledge and people can discover it through
trying to find God.

❖ Modern Idealism

a. Rene Descartes (1596-1650)

➢ He was called “Father of Modern Philosophy.”
➢ His famous statement “I think therefore I exist.”
According to Descartes, the only thing that can be known is whatever is going on in our
minds- nothing of an external world can be directly known about. Thus, the only true
knowledge we can have is that of our own existence, a position summed up in his famous
statement “I think, therefore I exist.” He believed that this was the only thing about knowledge
that could not be doubted or questioned.

b. Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753 C.E)

➢ Sometimes known as the “Father of Idealism.”
➢ His main purpose is to make evident the existence of God and to prove that
is the true cause of all things.
➢ Has proved that God exists from the existence of the material sensible
universe.
➢ He shown what kind of being God is from the knowledge we have of our
own selves or spirits.

c. Immanuel Kant (1724-1804 C.E.)

➢ There are universal, moral laws.
➢ To Kant, the essence of education should not be simply training; the important
thing was enlightenment or teaching a child to think according to principles.
Kant’s ethics which is a universal ethical principle stating that one should always
respect humanity in others, and that one should only act accordance with rules that could
hold for everyone.
Furthermore, according to Kant’s theory, the rightness and wrongness of actions does
not depend on their consequences but on whether they fulfill their duty. He believed that
there was a supreme principle of morality.

d. George W.F. Hegel (1770-1831 C.E)

➢ The search for final Absolute Spirit
 ➢ To be truly educated an individual must pass through the various stages of the
cultural evolution of humankind.
Hegel believed that the ideas we have of the world are social, which is to say that the
ideas that we possess individually are utterly shaped by the ideas that other people possess. Our
minds have been shaped by the thoughts of other people through the language, traditions and
mores of our society. Spirit for him is collective consciousness of a given society, which shapes
the ideas and consciousness of everyone.

Idealism and Aims of Education

Idealism prescribes certain fundamental aims of education which is directly influenced
by the aims and principles of life. The function of education is to help us in our exploration of
the ultimate universal values so the truth of the universe may become our truth and give power
to our life.

7 Aims of Education according to the Philosophy of Idealism

1. Self-realization or Exaltation of personality
➢ self-realization involves full knowledge of the self. The first aim of education
according to Idealism is to develop the “self” of the individual higher and higher
till self-realization is achieved.
2. Spiritual Development
➢ The idealist gives greater importance to spiritual values in comparison with
material attainments.
3. To cultivate truth, beauty, and goodness
4. Transmission and Promotion of Cultural Heritage
➢ The cultural heritage is of immense worth and value. It belongs to whole
humanity, and it is the purpose of education to preserve, develop and transmit.
5. Cultivation of Moral Values
➢ According to an idealism, man is essentially a moral being therefore, moral, and
intellectual should be promoted.
6. Preparation for a Holy Life
7. Development of Intelligence and Rationality

Idealism and Curriculum

While developing curriculum, idealist give more importance to thought, feelings,
ideals, and values than to the child and his activities. They firmly hold that curriculum should
be concerned with whole humanity and its experiences.
Idealism and Discipline
Idealism wants to keep the child under discipline. Idealists believe that there can be no
spiritual development of the child without discipline.

Idealism and Teacher

Idealism considers teacher as a spiritual guide to the child. The teacher serves as a living
model for the student. A teacher is a spiritual symbol of right conduct.

Idealism in Modern Educational System

Education and philosophy are closely inter-related. Philosophy is love of knowledge
and education is acquisition of knowledge.
Without philosophy, education would be blind effort and without education, philosophy
would be crippled.
Education is acquisition of knowledge and experience as well as the development of
abilities, skills, habits, and attitudes which help a person to complete a meaningful life in this
globe. Idealism is a major philosophical foundation of education. There were many
philosophical foundations were found which gives a wide view of aim of education,
curriculum, method of teaching and others. Among these, “idealism” occupies a special role
compared to others. As the name suggests, idealism believes in ideas and ideals according to
them, the entire universe is an extension of the mind and soul.