IDEALISM

Appearance of
The observer the world
 Meaning of Idealism

• Idealism is born out of Plato’s “Theory of Ideas”

• According to which the ultimate supremacy of ideas.
• As a philosophical doctrine ,idealism recognizes ideas, feelings and ideals
more important than material objects and at the same time emphasizes
that the human development should be according to moral, ethical and
spiritual values so that he acquires the knowledge.
• Acc to Idealism, the essential nature of man is spiritual which is reveled in
mental, religious and aesthetic areas.
• Idealism emphasizes the study of man more and more because man is
endowed with higher intellectual powers and show greater level of
intelligence and discrimination and by his own moral and spiritual
activities he has created
• Acc to Horne-”An Idealistic philosophy of education,then,is an account of
man finding himself as an integral part of a universe of mind..”
 Protagonist s

• Socrates.
• Plato.
• Descartes.
• Spinoza.
• Burkley.
• Kant.
• Fitche.
• Schelling.
• Hegel.
• Green.
• Gentile.
• Vedas, Upanishads to the eastern scholars like SriAurobindo Ghosh.
 Contd.
• Two forms of the real world: Idealist believe that there are
two forms of the world i.e. material & spiritual world,
according to which spiritual world is real and ultimate .To
know the real world is the reality of mind and soul i.e. is the
self realization of the main aim of human life.”Idealism holds
that the order of the world is due to the manifestation in
space& time of an eternal and spiritual reality.”-Horne

• Ideas are more important than the objects: Idealist have

given more importance to idea rather than the
objects.”Ideas are the ultimate cosmic significance. They are
rather the essence or archetypes which form to cosmos.
These ideas are eternal and unchanging”.-Plato.
 Definition

• “Idealism holds that the ultimate reality is spiritualism.”

-D.M.Dutta.
• “Idealistic philosophy takes many and varied forms, but the postulate
underlying all this is that mind or spirit is the essential world stuff,
that the true reality is a mental character.”
-J.S.Ross.
• “Idealists point out that the mind that is the central in understanding
the world. To them nothing gives a greater sense of reality that the
activity of mind engaged in trying to comprehence its world .For any
thing to give a greater sense of reality would contradiction in terms
because to know any thing more real than mind would itself be a
conception mind.”
-Brubacher.
 Growth of Idealism

• Its inception took from the very time man began to think.

• In west ,it was born out of the writing of

Plato,Socrates,Aristitle and other philosophers.

• In India ,it was born out of the holy scripts

Vedas,Purans,Upanishads.

• Since then ,it is developing in all the countries f the world in

small or great measures.
Fundamental Principles Of Idealism
Full support to the
principle of unity in
diversity

Importance of
Personality
Two forms of the
development world

Ideas are more

important than
words
Faith of Spiritual
Powers

Importance of man
over nature
• Importance of man over nature: Man(who us a thinker and can
experience about material phenomenon and laws)is more
important then the object (nature).Since man is intelligent hence
he can create his own world of virtues and his creativity.”The
spirit or cultural environment is an environment of man’s own
making, it is a product of man’s creative activity”-R.R.Rusk

• Faith in Spiritual Values: They believe in three values

truth,beauty,goodness(undying and permanent).When people are
in pursuit of these highest spiritual values they achieve their
highest spiritual values.”Goodness,truth,and beauty are seen to
be absolute each existing in its own right and entirely desirable in
itself.”-J.S.Ross.
 Contd.

• Importance of Personality Development: Idealist give too

much importance on the SELF of the individual and on the
personality of the individual .
According to them development of personality means
achievement of perfections of an individual which can be
also called as self-realization of self which can be achieved
through the society through love,sympathy,fellow feeling, no
discrimination on the basis of caste,creed,race etc.In short
Idealism believes in the welfare of the whole
community.”Thus, the grandeur and the worth of human life
at its best are emphasized by Idealism. Human personality is
of supreme value and constitutes the noblest work of God.”-
J.S.Ross.
 Contd.
•Full support to the principle of unity in diversity: They believe
in unity in diversity i.e. the unifying factor is of supreme nature
which can be called as the universal consciousness or divinity.
Idealist call this power as power as God which is
supreme,omnipresent,omnipotent.Realization of this supreme
force is ones self is to attain divinity and the fullest extent of
personality which may be called as spiritual fulfillment.

•‘An Idealistic philosophy of education ,then is an account of

man finding himself as an integral part of universe
mind.”Prof.H.N.Horne.
 Idealism in Education

• Credit goes to Plato & Frobel.

• According to them,”Ideaism pervades creation and it is an

undying ,unlimited and ultimate force which reigns supreme
over all mind and matter.”

• They all advocate its greatest importance in education and lay

more emphasis on aims and principles of education than on
methods, aids ,devices.
 Aims of Education

To ensure To cultivate
Self Realization spiritual Truth,Beauty,Go
OR development odness
Exaltation of
Personality
Conservation of Preparation for a
Conservation,Pro inborn nature holy life
motion,and into spiritual
transmission of nature.
cultural heritage
Development of
intelligence and
rationality
 Aims of Education

• Self Exhaltation:Idealist lay great stress on the exhaltation of

the human personality i.e. is Self Realization which involves
knowledge of the self.Acc. To Ross, "The aim of education
especially associated with idealism is the exhaltation of
personality or self realization, the making actual or real the
highest potentialities of the self.
• To ensure spiritual development: More importance to
spiritual values than material attaintments.Tr should organize
education so as to develop the child spiritually.
 Contd.
• To cultivate Truth,Beauty,Goodness: Individual should be in
pursuit of high ideals thus he(child) will become more
spiritually developed. Edn should strive to develop the child
morally& spiritually so that he achieves self realization.
• Preparation of holy life: An environment should be provided
which is conducive for the development of spiritual values in a
child. A holy life will naturally lead the child to spiritual
development and self realization.
According to Frobel, "The object of education is the realization of
a faithful,pure,invoilable and hence holy life.”
 Contd.
• Conservation, promotion and transmission of cultural heritage:
• Man has an capacity of assimilating knowledge of the world.
Hence his mental, intellectual capacities develop cultural, social
& artistic values in human life.
• Man’s achievement in different fields like art and culture are of
great significance.
• The cultural treasure belongs to the whole humanity and its
purpose is to preserve,debelop,and transmit it in all corner of
the world.
• According to idealist the child should get acquainted with the
cultural heritage so that he conserves,promotes,and transmits
it to the future generation.
 Contd.

• Conservation of inborn nature into spiritual nature:

• According to Idealist, the inborn instincts and inherent
tendencies of a child should be sublimated into spiritual qualities
and values.
• As a result the child will be developed.
• Hence the child will attain the fullest development of his
personality.
• Hence it is necessary to sublimate the inborn raw tendencies
of the child to spiritual qualities.
 Contd.

• Development of intelligence and rationality:

• According to Adam man can understand the purpose as well as
the plan and organization since he understands the purpose of
all objects and natural phenomenon.
• Since there are set principles working in this creation, man tries
to discover and understand these principles so that on the basis
of moral elements the world remains organized.
• Out of these principles the idealist give more importance to the
principle of unity in diversity which underlines the creation of
an implicit force in the whole universe. A highly developed
(intelligence)mind can perceive and the all prevailing force
called as GOD.
 Idealism and Curriculum
• Curriculum should be concerned with the whole
humanity and its experiences.

• These experiences can be imbibed in two ways:

• From the physical World.
• From contacts with other fellow men.

• In an idealistic curriculum both the scientific as well

as humanities should be included.
 Acc. to Plato

INTELLECTUAL
AESTHETIC MORAL
Language,
History, Arts Religion
Literature,Mat Poetry Metaphysics
hs, Ethics,etc
Geography,
Science
 Acc to NUNN
• Physical,social,Moral,Religious
.
• Physical
Culture,Sociology,Ethics,Religion

• Literary and Aesthetic.

• Literature,Art,Music,Handicraft,History,
• Geography,Science,Maths,etc
 According to Ross
INTELLECTUAL
Literature,lang,History
Maths,Sci

ACTIVITIES OF MORAL
MAN Ethics
SPIRITUAL
ASTHETIC
Fine Arts

RELIGIOUS
Religon,Metaphysic
s

HEALTH ED.
PHYSICAL
PHYSICAL EXERCISE
 Idealism & methods of teaching

• The aim of teaching are definite according to Idealist but

there are no definite methods of teaching
• The following are be the methods as suggested by them:
• Socrates: Question answer ,Plato:Discourse, Aristotle:
Inductive Deductive ,Hegel:Logical,Descartes:Simple to
Complex,Pestalozzi:Physical organs allied
activities,Herbart:Instruction method,Frobel:Play way
method.
• They emphasized on Discussiopn,Lecture,Talk in groups.
• Acc .to Butler, "Idealist consider themselves as creators &
determiners of method not devotee of some one method.”
 Idealism and Teacher
• A very important role to teacher. This planned creation has
two parts :The Teacher, The child as the student. Their aim is
to develop the child spiritually which is possible through
education.
• The teacher should have the qualities like high degree of self
knowledge, self dynamism& essential qualities of
spiritualism. The teacher by her model life should influence
the students. the tr should create conducive envt, and plan
activities, guide the children with love & affection ,sympathy
so that he attains mental &spiritual development.
• “The naturalist may be content with the barriers but the
idealist wants fine roses.So the educator by his own efforts
assist the educand,who is developing according to the laws
of his nature to attain levels that would otherwise be denied
to him”.J.S.Ross
 Idealism and Discipline
• Idealist believe that there is no discipline without spiritual
development. They believe that impressionistic discipline is
the best type of discipline.

• The teacher is to gain respect, be affectionate &

sympathetic ,motivate, sublimate instincts will lead the child
to self discipline for development.

• On one hand idealist emphasize on sympathetic control on

undesirable activities but on the other hand it grants
regulated liberty for spiritual development.
 Idealism and Schools

• School is a place where the capacities of logical

thinking, reasoning, evaluating of the child
progressively sublimated &developed by teachers
and the school environment into desirable channels
so that high spiritual ideas and values are gained.
• Such noble mission according to idealism, may be
achieved through proper guidance of teacher given
in school.
• Hence Idealist consider school and its impressionistic
environment as greatly essential.
 Merits of Idealism
• Made significant contribution in the field of education i.e. aims
of education.
• Emphasized on high values satyam,shivam,sudaram which lead
to high moral character of the child.
• Aims at self realization of individuals by their own efforts. Hence
promotes universal education.
• The teacher is assigned an important role of developing the
child’s personality to the fullest.
• It respects individuality of the child & stimulates his creative
energies. Thus it has influenced other philosophies.
• Emphasizes on the principle of self discipline which leads to the
fullest development (self) of the individual.
• School became an important social organization due to the
idealist philosophy.
 Demerits of Idealism
• Is an abstract philosophy& prepares the child for the next world.
• Concerned with ultimate end of life& avoids real problems of
day to day life.
• It lays more importance on thinking & mental activities which
increases the importance of intellectualism unnecessarily.
• They emphasize on the achievement of immortal high
ideals(Truth,Beauty,Goodness)which are not immortal and
conditioned by the condition of the society & needs of the
individual.
• Idealistic philosophy gives more importance to the teacher
rather than the child.
• Idealistic methods of teaching give more importance to
cramming.
• Idealistic philosophy give more importance to humanities for
spiritual development rather than scientific subjects.