Idealism facts for kids

Idealism is the philosophy that believes the ultimate nature of reality is ideal, or based upon ideas, values, or essences. The external, or real world cannot be separated from consciousness, perception, mind, intellect and reason in the sense of science.

In some doctrines of idealistic thought the ideal relates to direct and immediate knowledge of subjective mental ideas, or images.

Images for kids

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  Detail of Plato in The School of Athens, by Raphael

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  The sage Yajnavalkya (possibly 8th century BCE) is one of the earliest exponents of idealism, and is a major figure in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

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  Statue of Vasubandhu (jp. Seshin), Kōfuku-ji, Nara, Japan.

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  The 20th-century British scientist Sir James Jeans wrote that "the Universe begins to look more like a great thought than like a great machine"

See also

In Spanish: Idealismo para niños