What do you understand by the term Idealism?

The word ‘Idealism’ has been derived from ‘Ideas’. According to this doctrine, the ultimate supremacy is ‘ideas’. The letter T has been added for pronunciation facility.

Therefore, we call it. ‘Idealism’ instead of ‘idealism’ the philosophy of idealism gives much emphasis on ideas, feelings and ideals than the material things. Human mind, being a part of the universal mind should develop according to moral, ethical and spiritual values.

Idealism is the traditional Philosophy of the West and also of India. Great exponents of this philosophy could be mentioned. There are different strains of this school. The basic tenet of this philosophy is explained below:

1. Man has dealings with what seems to be two worlds the Apparent and the Real. The apparent is the region of change, imperfection, disorder, irregularity, trouble, suffering, evil and misery. The Real world is the world of the Mind – the realism of ideas and of eternal qualities. Also, it is the world of perfection, permanence, regularity, order and absolute values. In brief, Ultimate Reality is mental and spiritual.

2. Ideas are more significant than objects. Mind and soul are more real than objects and body. Hence, it is called as ‘Idealism’-the world of Ideas.

3. Man is a spiritual organism. Evolution does not stop at the animal level but continues of a spiritual plane taking us nearer to a realisation of the ultimate values that are at the heart of the Universe.

4. There exist universal principles or laws which have objective existence, whether man knows them or not. Man cannot create laws. They are ‘apirior’ categories of thought that man discovers. Higher knowledge is the product of intuitive thinking and reasoning. Thus it is a product of the mind.

5. There is an essential Unity in the scheme of things. Man is a part of this universe, a mecrocosm within a macrocosm and it is the essence of his nature to work towards a rational unity in himself.

6. Man has an innate capacity to apprehend the moral values or principles. Universal moral principles exist in the nature of things and hence make the same appeal to different minds and these find common grounds in apprehending them.

The very test of a good moral principle is its universal validity itself and the education, and the atmosphere of the educational institutions became artificial and impracticable. Renounced educationists like Bacon, Locke, Commenius, Malkaster, and Spencer mounted a flag of opposition against it and the realism in education is the result of it.

To quote Ross, as the naturalism developed against showy education, similarly the Realism came into being as a resultant

Applied to education, the new spirit manifested itself mainly in the following forms: They are:

1. Humanistic Realism:

Humanistic realist advocated that a more useful study was the study of one’s social life and environment through study of the ancient literature. Thus, the old literature was to serve as a means to an end that was to teach how to live usefully in the world. Humanistic Realism represented the survival of the idea of the Renaissance, but in a different form.

2. Social Realism: According to the social realists, the purpose of education was to prepare the practical man of the mundane world. This was generally recommended for the people of social class. The travelling is of great importance in such education, and it regarded schools of less value as an agency of training the junior aristocrats.

As far as the philosophy of Realism in Education it has been pointed out that the main principle of realism is the principle of independence. Realism always stressed emphasis on the independence of object, whether human mind knows about it or not.

It states that thing can exist unknowing to all in the universe. But to each and every kind of situation the scientific explanation to the nature of universe is totally necessary for the development of the progressive human mind.

Swami Ram Tirtha saw Realism as a means, a belief or theory which looks up the world as it seems to us to be a mere phenomenon. The name of realism proposes that it is an ‘ism’ believing in the usefulness of the world and the material existence is its fields of education.

According to Ruskin, ‘The aim of new Realism is to expound a philosophy which is not inconsistent with the facts of common life and with the development in physical science.’

The realist believes that everything that exists in the universe is matter or energy or matter in motion. They believe that physical universe is operated by natural laws. The realist tries to discover truth with the help of scientific methods such a discovery of truth helps to control the environment.

Ross observed that, “the social realists, looking as Kance at bookish studies, stressed the value of direct studies of man and things, having in mind chiefly the upper classes they advocate a period of travel a grand “tour which will give real experience of varied aspects of life.

“According to Cubberly “Social realism was the natural reaction of practical men of the new world against a type of education that tended to perpetuate the pedantry of an earlier age by devoting its energies to the production of the scholar and professional man to the neglect of the man of affairs.”