Idealism
[aɪ'dɪəlɪz(ə)m;-'diːə-] or ['aɪ'diə'lɪzəm]
Definition
(noun.) impracticality by virtue of thinking of things in their ideal form rather than as they really are.
(noun.) (philosophy) the philosophical theory that ideas are the only reality.
Typed by Carla--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) The quality or state of being ideal.
(n.) Conception of the ideal; imagery.
(n.) The system or theory that denies the existence of material bodies, and teaches that we have no rational grounds to believe in the reality of anything but ideas and their relations.
Typed by Arthur
Examples
- The bold idealism of to-day may seem mere common sense to-morrow. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- In the later nineteenth century, this type of idealism was amalgamated with the doctrine of biological evolution. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- His speeches began to turn on platitudes--on the vague idealism and indisputable moralities of the Decalogue and the Sermon on the Mount. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Idealism creates an abstraction and then shudders at a reality which does not answer to it. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- He is the father of idealism in philosophy, in politics, in literature. Plato. The Republic.
- Some of them are named scholasticism, sensationalism, rationalism, idealism, realism, empiricism, transcendentalism, pragmatism, etc. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- And all the higher class of statesmen have in them something of that idealism which Pericles is said to have gathered from the teaching of Anaxagoras. Plato. The Republic.
- The story epitomizes American idealism, restlessness, freedom of individual opinion, and ready adjustment to the surrounding conditions of pioneer life. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The cry raised against these men by the average reformer is a piece of cold, unreal, preposterous idealism compared to the solid warm facts of kindliness, clothes, food and fun. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
Inputed by Katherine