Political Science

The concept of idealism as known in our modern society is marked with varied controversial debates. The proponent of this concept belief that it is in the mind or human thoughts were the nature of reality is found. This means that the only thing than can be claimed as the ultimate reality lies in our mental ideas and consciousness. It is however to be noted that the concept is quite contradictory with other philosophical concepts. Opponents of the concept claim that it contradicts the concept of perception which claims that the external world does exist and is absolutely independent of either human knowledge or consciousness. Idealism is also found to contradict with the philosophy of the mind which regards the ultimate reality to be based on tangible things. Nevertheless, the theory of idealism has gained much weight in upholding to personal goals in live as it entails thinking of existence as perfection both in existence and reality.

This paper is written as a discussion of the concept or theory of idealism. The author gives a critical discussion on the origin of the theory and its primary developers as well as why it was developed. A summary of the main points of idealism is also given.

Where and who developed the idealism theory
The idea of idealism has been closely associated with Plato. This has been based on the fact that he was the first person to sufficiently convince the human community of the concept of ideas in connection with reality in his theory of forms or simply ideas in the dictionary of sensible perception (Ryn, 1999, p. 42). It is however worth to be stated that the concept had been in existence long before Plato. According to Mann (2002) Antiphon in his philosophical writing claimed the concept of seeing time as a mental thought rather than a substance (p. 134). This has been interpreted by many philosophers who claim that according to Antiphon time meant an internal mental perception of reality as opposed to an external objector, the ultimate reality. Nevertheless, Plato is highly praised for his great work in explaining and qualifying the idealism theory. According to Ryn (1999) In his theory about the doctrine of thoughts, Plato sufficiently claims that ideas of forms are independent of the human mind in existence but are quite influential in the conclusive nature of human beings with respect to reality (p. 56). Since according to the theory of idealism the ideal reality lies in the doctrine of thoughts, Plato sufficiently qualifies this when he claimed that the ultimate reality does not lie in the non-ideal.

Another developer of the idealism theory in the ancient time was Plotinus and his philosophical conclusion of the soul as being maker of the world through series of steps from eternity to time (Chow, 1998, p. 146). According to his concept of reality, Plotinus claimed that the universe lies in the mind and soul and thus there exists no time behold the soul. This concept of idealism has received many contributions from varied modern philosophers like Leibniz, Fichte, Hegel and Kant among many others.

Why the idealism theory was developed
It was, and still is a crucial concern of every member in our society on the ultimate realization of realty. It is evidently rightly claimed that the idealism theory was, but a way of convincing people that by their day to day activities and execution of duties, they are experiencing the requirements of the ultimate reality (Mcdonagh, 1999, p. 24). This is basically the reason the conception of the idealism theory in our society. It is nevertheless to be established that the theory of idealism has evidently found much application in the society particularly the American nation. Historian evidence has clearly shown that the sustainable development both politically and economically should be based on idealism theory. It is indeed a direct result of such that president Woodrow had it that the political success of the American nation will always be realized by creating interest in the underlying principles and expectations of the nation (Mann, 2002, p. 151). Although the concept of idealism was much involved in the British colonial era, the American government through their idealistic foreign policies have sufficient proved much of implementing the theory. It is to be noted here that the ultimate success of any human being is greatly dependent on the successful realization of his or her dreams. It is due to this that the human quest to succeed at the expense of others in the global society that the concept of idealism came into being.

Conclusion
It has been sufficiently proved that idealism is one of the most successful philosophical concepts in the human community. It is only by striving to realize what is in ones perception or mental thinking that reality is to be found (Hylton, 1992, p. 161). The theory of idealism according to Plato evidently claims that there exists no reality behold the soul. The soul and human mind entails the human ability to thinking and act responsibly in the society. Such are also responsible for relating reality to human perceptions. It is thus true based on this reasoning that death is the ultimate end of the individuals ability to determine the ultimate reality in life.