- #1
zk4586
- 87
- 1
Being as it's summer and I don't have school I've been spending everyday -- and, recently, every night because I haven't been sleeping well -- reading. Well, I had an idea the other night, so I wanted to see what everyone else thought, and find out if I came up with something novel or if I'm just thinking what some other philosopher already wrote about a long time ago.
Anyway, my idea is:
Idealism is the philosophical doctrine that says that there's no external reality, that ultimately the world is only experienced in the mind and thus that's where it exists. Thus that implies that everything that I am as a person is only given meaning by other people. I only exist in the minds of other people; in their ideas of me, in their own subjective feelings and attitudes and impressions of me. And thus it's true not just of me but of everyone. We only exist in the minds of everyone else. All of our ideas are only given validation by everyone else. And we can call this collective of meanings God. Because it's the only thing that gives life significance. We, by existing, by thinking, by having consciousness (that is, by being human), give life significance.
Anyway, my idea is:
Idealism is the philosophical doctrine that says that there's no external reality, that ultimately the world is only experienced in the mind and thus that's where it exists. Thus that implies that everything that I am as a person is only given meaning by other people. I only exist in the minds of other people; in their ideas of me, in their own subjective feelings and attitudes and impressions of me. And thus it's true not just of me but of everyone. We only exist in the minds of everyone else. All of our ideas are only given validation by everyone else. And we can call this collective of meanings God. Because it's the only thing that gives life significance. We, by existing, by thinking, by having consciousness (that is, by being human), give life significance.