Ideality or idealism is the belief that reality is fundamentally idea, thought or mind not matter. This theory was first brought to attention in about 600 BC by Greek Pythagoras, Plato later formalized it. He claimed, "Individual entities are merely shadows of reality that behind each entity in our experience is a perfect Form of Ideal."" The Form or Ideal is what makes the unit understandable to the human mind. Individual entities come and go but the Forms are immortal and indestructible. .
The varieties in idealism all share the same characteristics. First, they all believe in mind spirit or thought as what is ultimately real. Second, they perceive purpose, order and meaning in the workings of things. Third, idealists believe in some kind of purpose in our lives. These "rules-, if you will, are moralistic guidelines that idealist believe and follow.
Idealist, George Berkley is the founder of modern idealism. He claimed,"" Things are ultimately mental, or more independent. This mind dependency can be viewed as either "subjective- or "objective-."" Subjective idealism is the position that all we ever know are our own ideas. In other words, anything that I experience is the calculation of my own perceptions. Objective idealism is ideas that exist in an objective state. Objective idealism accounts for the steadiness or regularity of our experiences and it allows the world to be viewed as an ultimately intelligible system because it is a product of the mind. .
An example of Idealism is heat; does it exist independently of our perception of it? When exposed to great heat I feel a pain that everyone acknowledges to be in me, not in the fire, George Berkeley argued, so the warmth I feel when exposed to lesser heat must be the same. What is more, if I dip both of my hands into a bowl of lukewarm water after chilling one and warming the other, the water will feel both warm and cold at the same time.
