Idealism is
the group of philosophical systems that claim realism is reliant on the mind
rather than independent of the mind. Extreme versions of Idealism refuse that
any ‘world’ exists outside of our minds. Finer versions of Idealism claim that
our understanding of reality reveals the workings of our mind first and
foremost – that the properties of objects have no standing regardless of the
minds perceiving them.
The nature
and uniqueness of the “mind” upon which reality is needy is one subject that
has divided idealists of a range of sorts. Some fight that there is some
objective mind outside of nature, some fight that it is simply the common power
of reason or rationality, some disagree that it is the combined mental
faculties of society, and some center simply on the minds of individual human
beings.
