Idealism for Beginners

[originofopinion]

Have a few questions regarding Idealism.

1.Can Someone explain to me what idealism is?

2.And what types of idealism are there and what are they?

3.And In the end how do idealists view the world?

4.What are mandatory beliefs an idealist much have?

5.Who are the most well known idealists?

6.Any Famous Communists that were Idealists?

7.Any of you Idealists and why?

Thank you for answering! :)

[Stranger Than Paradise]

Idealism is something that is attributed to communists by pro-capitalists. They say we are idealist and not basing our views on real human behaviour. In reality those supporting Capitalism are corrupting human nature. They need to read Mutual Aid.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Have a few questions regarding Idealism.

1.Can Someone explain to me what idealism is?Idealism when used by marxists to describe political and philosophical ideas means someone who believes ideas impact reality. So a crude example of idealism would be when people say: "young black males in the US turn to crime because there aren't enough male role models". In this common example it's as if an idea or abstract concept is more powerful than material conditions such as lack of job opportunities, education, and so on.


2.And what types of idealism are there and what are they?I don't know about this one.


3.And In the end how do idealists view the world?The world is shaped by ideas - this can come in many forms from things like "great men" views of history to creationism.


4.What are mandatory beliefs an idealist much have?It's not really an ideology - anyone can be an idealist.


5.Who are the most well known idealists?Hegel's view of dialectics was seen as idealist by Marx.


6.Any Famous Communists that were Idealists?Probably - US society is extremely idealist and so many "common sense" (or at least commonly accepted) ideas are pure idealism and this seeps into the way we all think.


7.Any of you Idealists and why?No because just because you can imagine yourself flying like a bird does not mean it's possible - materially, however you can seek to understand the mechanics and physics behind flight and build something which allows you to fly. The same is true in politics - I want to understand the mechanisms that make society work so that I can hopefully contribute to the changing of society into something better.

[red cat]

We materialists firmly hold that everything including our thought processes, consciousness etc. are a part and function of the material world(i.e, they are due to material interactions). Idealists, on the other hand, think that the world itself is characterized by ideas, rather than having absolute properties.

"The ideal is nothing else than the material world reflected by the human mind, and translated into forms of thought." --Karl Marx

[ZeroNowhere]

1.Can Someone explain to me what idealism is?"The idealism of philosophy consists in nothing else than in recognizing that the finite has no veritable being," said Hegel, and veritable being belongs only to the infinite, that is, God, in Hegel's view. The parallels with religion are also brought up, "This is as true of philosophy as of religion; for religion equally does not recognize finitude as a veritable being, as something ultimate and absolute or as something underived, uncreated, eternal." However, he also argued that earlier philosophy was inconsistent in application of the idealist principle, as its method was materialist, based on the principles of non-contradiction and identity, labelled the 'intellect'. Therefore, they present the finite as “irreconcilable with the infinite,” saying that it, “cannot be united with it, that the finite is utterly opposed to the infinite.” This means that the finite “remains absolutely on its own side”, the possibility of it passing over into the ‘other’ is excluded. Since its non-being is understood here as a negation that stands in “abrupt contrast to its affirmative”, the finite is regarded as “imperishable and absolute.” Finitude is thus made eternal, and the infinite, which should have been the totality, is only one of the two, while the finite lives on. The infinite thus is “not the whole but only the one side; it has its limit in what stands over and against it; it is thus the finite infinite”, only one of two finites, rather than only the infinite existing. Therefore, “the finite is represented as independent and persisting on its own vis-à-vis the infinite, completely separated from the latter and delivered from annihilation.” Thus, the infinite manages to exist only as, “the negative [...] of determinateness in general, as the empty beyond.”

So instead, he gets rid of the principles of non-contradiction and identity, and says of finite things, "non-being constitutes their nature and being. Finite things are, [...] but the truth of their being is their end." He explains that, "The finite not only alters, like something in general, but it ceases to be; and its ceasing to be is not merely a possibility, so that it could be without ceasing to be," but rather, "The hour of their birth is the hour of their death." He says that the finite has as its essence what is other than it, the infinite. Therefore, it is not when it is the finite, and it is only when it 'is not', when it is 'the other'. He portrays this contradiction as causing it, it being its nature to do so rather than caused by external forces, to "negate its negation (ie. its actual finitude or illusory being) and to become infinite. Thus the infinite does not stand as something finished and complete superior to the finite, as if the finite had an enduring being apart from or subordinate to the infinite." As the finite has no being in and of itself, it becomes only the form of appearance, illusory being, of the infinite, through which it becomes flesh, so to speak, in it the absolute is reflected, it is a positive manifestation of the absolute.

Another idealist gave this example, "Motion itself is a contradiction: even simple mechanical change of place can only come about through a body at one and the same moment of time being both in one place and in another place, being in one and the same place and also not in it. And the continuous assertion and simultaneous solution of this contradiction is precisely what motion is." Hegel formulated it, "The ancient dialecticians must be granted the contradictions that they pointed out in motion; but it does nnot follow that therefore there is no motion, but on the contrary, that motion is existent contradiction itself." Materialism, however, could not grasp change due to its upholding of the principle of non-contradiction, and only "consider things as static and lifeless, each one by itself, alongside of and after each other," rather than, "things in their motion, their change, their life, their reciprocal influence on one another."

Incidentally, he also held that all philosophy was idealist by definition ('realist' philosophy does not deserve to be called a philosophy), and the difference is only in how far the principle mentioned above is carried through.

So yeah, that's idealism in the words of a famous idealist, more or less. It should be noted that these are mainly notes on Colletti's 'Marxism and Hegel' and Hegel's own texts which I had made a while ago when reading them simultaneously, rather than something I just typed up. Though I would type up more or less the same thing.


6.Any Famous Communists that were Idealists?The majority of the 20th Century Marxist movement.

For critiques of idealism, it's well worth reading Marx's early critiques of Hegel's philosophy. Colletti's 'Marxism and Hegel' is also great, and goes into quite a lot of depth on Hegel's views (the dialectic of matter and quite a bit more), as well as Kant, Marx's critiques of Hegel, and the best way to disparage and mock the writing of a large quantity of people. There is, of course, Kant as well, if you're interested.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

You can find a brief critique of the sort of idealism one finds in Hegel, and that which resurfaces in much of what passes itself off a 'Marxist Philosophy', here:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/self-t105849/index.html?p=1408653#post1408653


1.Can Someone explain to me what idealism is?

The belief that the world is Mind, or an aspect of Mind. The belief that the world is constructed out of the products of mind: Ideas, concepts, thoughts, sense data, words...


2.And what types of idealism are there and what are they?

a) Absolute or 'Objective' Idealism: the world is Mind, or self-developing Mind (Hegel).

b) Various forms of 'subjective idealism', including certain forms of realism, empiricism, solipsism and positivism (etc.).

These involve the belief that the world is a construction (of some sort) out of the products of 'consciousness'.

c) Linguistic Idealism: the belief that fundamental truths about reality can be derived from thought/language alone. [This in fact encompasses a) and b) above. This means that there is in fact only one sort of Idealism.]


3.And In the end how do idealists view the world?

In their practice, no different from any other sane person. In their theory, like someone off their head.


4.What are mandatory beliefs an idealist much have?

See the answer to 1) and 2), above -- particularly 2c).


5.Who are the most well known idealists?

Plato, Plotinus, Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer... In fact, practically every traditional philosopher (even many of those who [I]say they are materialists).


6.Any Famous Communists that were Idealists?

I'd say that much of what these had to say (about Philosophy) made them Linguistic Idealists: Engels, Plekhanov, Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, Mao,...


7.Any of you Idealists and why?

They call themselves 'Dialectical Materialists' here (and elsewhere).

[CELMX]

everything is a thought, a dream, a vision, an idea (look at my sig...the mysterious stranger:))

oh...btw...kinda off topic, but a good, really depressing, kinda idealist for fun book/short story is "The Mysterious Stranger" by Mark Twain
<3 that book

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

ComradeL:


everything is a thought, a dream, a vision, an idea (look at my sig...the mysterious stranger

In which case, if it's a dream, it can't be 'real' -- unless by 'dream' you mean something different from the rest of us.

[CELMX]

i think i am trying to say that the world, according to idealists, is created by our conscious and subconscious(meaning basically a dream)

ur mind is subconcious when ur dreaming, am i right?

[Manifesto]

i think i am trying to say that the world, according to idealists, is created by our conscious and subconscious(meaning basically a dream)

ur mind is subconcious when ur dreaming, am i right?
Yes your mind is in subconsciousness when dreaming but there is also more to the subconscious than just that.

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Comrade Lenin:


ur mind is subconcious when ur dreaming, am i right?

No, you are just asleep.

[originofopinion]

But Can Idealists still believe in science and such?