Philosophical Perspectives: Idealism, Dualism, and Existence

Posted on May 29, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Philosophical Perspectives on Reality

Understanding Idealism and Dualism

Types of Philosophical Approaches

  • Idealism: The idea ‘actually means what X idea?’
  • Dualism: Divides reality into its essence and its material characteristics; the real is matter.

Kant’s Transcendental Idealism

Ideas are the universal form of human thought that gives the information it receives through the senses. The qualities of objects change depending on how they are perceived. Objects have a primary existence (duration), each responsible for their causes, and their characteristics are physical or psychic phenomena. However, for Kant, reality is something more than ideas as a way to organize data; this dimension of reality is called noumena (what is the object of rational knowledge as opposed to pure phenomenon, the subject of sensitive knowledge).

Plato’s Theory of Forms (Idealism)

The ideas exist by themselves, apart from the thoughts of men and things of the physical world. Thinking depends on the idea that we should be able to think, i.e., that it is how we grasp what it is. The idea does not come from experience. These ideas represent non-physical realities.

Platonic Divisions of Reality
  • Spiritual World (Ideas) vs. Material World (Physical)
  • Immutable: No change vs. Mutable: Eternal change
  • Finite: Born and die vs. Infinite: Neither generated nor destroyed
  • Intelligible: By thought vs. Unintelligible: Not an idea
  • Universal: Same vs. Individuals: Each thing is one
  • Perfect: Resemble the ideal model vs. Imperfect

The ideas are models for the being of things in the material world, a concept also explored by Hegel.

  • Ideas are the model that things should resemble as much as possible.
  • Ideas are the organizing principle of the material world.
  • Material images aspire to ideas in the material world.

Christian Dualism and the Existence of God

For Plato, ideas exist regardless of what we think of things they purport to represent, but they maintain a deep relationship with the physical world.

Christian Dualism: The Creator and the Created

Arguments for God’s Existence
  1. Anselm of Canterbury: God exists because the concept of a being “than which nothing greater can be conceived” implies existence. If such a being did not exist, a greater one could be conceived (one that exists), which is a contradiction.
  2. Thomas Aquinas:
    • The cosmos is the sum of all natural beings. No being can be the cause of its own existence; therefore, a creator God exists for the cosmos.
    • Critique: This argument can be seen as confusing the existence of things with the existence of the cosmos (confusing the whole with the parts and the parts to the whole).
  3. Aquinas (Teleological Argument): There is order in the universe, in matter. Therefore, it cannot order itself. Thus, a God exists in the cosmos.
    • Critique: It is not clear that this universe is inherently ordered.
  4. René Descartes: God is perfect, and the idea of Him exists in my thoughts. The idea of God is innate, not a human creation.
  5. Blaise Pascal (Pascal’s Wager): It is more rational to believe in God than not to. If we believe and God exists, we gain eternal happiness. If we believe and God does not exist, we lose only finite pleasures. If we do not believe and God exists, we lose eternal happiness. If we do not believe and God does not exist, we gain only finite pleasures.
  6. Immanuel Kant (Moral Argument): Humanity’s deepest hope is to achieve happiness through the performance of duty. However, duty and happiness are often irreconcilable in this world; happiness does not always follow duty, and vice versa. Since I cannot give up this hope, there must be another life that grants me happiness, and therefore an immortal God exists.
    • Critique: Why should this be the human hope? Can one not simply live a good life in the company of loved ones and have an easy death?

Philosophy rooted in Christianity has sought to prove God’s existence through various arguments. However, for all these arguments, there are counter-arguments.

Philosophical Atheism

Philosophical atheism rejects religion for two main reasons:

  1. It is considered false, as there is no reality beyond the material cosmos.
  2. It is seen as wicked, a lie that hinders human fulfillment.
Key Atheistic Perspectives
  1. Auguste Comte: Religion is invented because we need to understand the world we live in. Religion will be overcome when humanity reaches the ‘positive’ (scientific) stage.
  2. Ludwig Feuerbach: The idea of God is the idea of a being that possesses human qualities—knowledge, feeling, will—but at their highest level of perfection.
  3. Karl Marx: Religion is invented out of a need for comfort due to the unfairness of this world, promising a perfect justice beyond. Religion will be overcome when we achieve a critical transformation of society.
  4. Friedrich Nietzsche: Religion is invented out of a need to restore our pride. The great man, the atheist, trusts his own strength to face life’s challenges. Religion will be overcome if we embrace a moral life based on excellent individuals.
  5. General Argument: Religion is invented because life is a hard experience—sickness, aging, suffering, and death—and we need a painkiller to cope. The ‘neurosis’ of religion will be overcome when we move past the need for an invented ‘father’ figure and assume life as it is.