Reality is fundamentally mental, or shaped by mind. We never meet the world raw, only as structured by ideas and concepts.
- +Fits Hermeneutic Epistemology, Constructivist Epistemology, Phenomenological Epistemology
- –Tension with Positivist Epistemology
Key thinkers: Immanuel Kant, G.W.F. Hegel, R.G. Collingwood
The longer story
Idealism is often misunderstood as saying 'it's all in your head'—but that's crude. Sophisticated idealism says that mind and meaning are fundamental, not reducible to matter. Hegel's version: reality is spirit coming to know itself through history. Collingwood's application: human action is essentially thought, so understanding history means re-thinking past thoughts. For arts research, idealism takes meaning seriously as constitutive, not as decoration on material reality. The idea in a work isn't an add-on to physical materials; it's what makes those materials into a work. Careful though—this can slide into ignoring material conditions that shape what gets thought.