Editing Idealism (section)

==Classical Greek idealism==
===Pre-Socratic philosophy===
There some precursors of idealism in [[Ancient Greek philosophy|Ancient Greek Philosophy]], though scholars disagree on whether any of these thinkers could be properly labeled "idealist" in the modern sense.<ref name=":4">Dunham et al. 2011, p. 11</ref>
One example is [[Anaxagoras]] (480 BC) who taught that all things in the universe ([[apeiron]]) were set in motion by ''[[nous]]'' ("mind"). In the ''[[Phaedo]]'', Plato quotes him as saying, "it is intelligence [nous] that arranges and causes all things".<ref name=":4" /> Similarly, [[Parmenides]] famously stated that "thinking and being are the same".<ref name=":4" /> This has led some scholars, such as Hegel and E. D. Phillips, to label Parmenides an idealist.<ref>Dunham et al. 2011, p. 14.</ref>

===Platonism and neoplatonism===
[[File:Plato_by_Raphael.png|thumb|Detail of [[Plato]] in ''[[The School of Athens]]'', by [[Raphael]]]]
[[Plato]]'s [[Theory of Forms|theory of forms]] or "ideas" (''eidos'') as described in dialogues like [[Phaedo]], [[Parmenides (dialogue)|Parmenides]] and [[Sophist (dialogue)|Sophist]], describes ideal forms (for example the [[platonic solids]] in geometry or abstracts like Goodness and Justice), as perfect beings which "exists-by-itself" (Greek: ''auto kath' auto''), that is, independently of any particular instance (whether physical or in the individual thought of any person).<ref>{{cite web |author=J.D.McNair |title=Plato's Idealism |url=http://faculty.mdc.edu/jmcnair/Joe6pages/Plato%27s%20Idealism.htm |access-date=7 August 2011 |work=Students' notes |publisher=MIAMI-DADE COMMUNITY COLLEGE}}</ref><ref>Dunham et al. 2011, pp. 21–22.</ref> Anything that exists in the world exists by participating in one of these unique ideas, which are nevertheless interrelated causally with the world of becoming, with nature.<ref name=":5">Dunham et al. 2011, p. 23.</ref> Arne Grøn calls this doctrine "the classic example of a metaphysical idealism as a ''[[Transcendental idealism|transcendent]]'' idealism".<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Idealism |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Science and Religion |publisher=eNotes |url=http://www.enotes.com/science-religion-encyclopedia/idealism |access-date=7 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110112124313/http://www.enotes.com/science-religion-encyclopedia/idealism |archive-date=12 January 2011 |author=Arne Grøn |url-status=dead}}</ref> Nevertheless, Plato holds that matter as perceived by us is real, though transitory, imperfect, and dependent on the eternal ideas for its existence. Because of this, some scholars have seen Plato as a [[Mind–body dualism|dualist]], though others disagree and favor a [[Monism|monist]] account.<ref>{{cite web |author=Simone Klein |title=What is objective idealism? |url=http://www.philosophos.com/knowledge_base/archives_12/philosophy_questions_12.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716085840/http://www.philosophos.com/knowledge_base/archives_12/philosophy_questions_12.html |archive-date=16 July 2011 |access-date=7 August 2011 |work=Philosophy Questions |publisher=Philosophos}}</ref><ref name=":5" />

The thought of Plato was widely influential, and later Late Platonist (or [[Neoplatonism|Neoplatonist]]) thinkers developed Platonism in new directions. [[Plotinus]], the most influential of the later Platonists, wrote "Being and Intellect are therefore one nature" (''[[Enneads]]'' V.9.8).<ref name=":6">Dunham et al. 2011, p. 25.</ref> According to scholars like Nathaniel Alfred Boll and Ludwig Noiré, with Plotinus, a true idealism which holds that only soul or mind exists appears for the first time in [[Western philosophy]].<ref>'For there is for this universe no other place than the soul or mind'

''(neque est alter hujus universi locus quam anima)''

''Enneads'', iii, lib. vii, c.10</ref><ref>''(oportet autem nequaquam extra animam tempus accipere)''

Arthur Schopenhauer, ''[[Parerga and Paralipomena]]'', Volume I, "Fragments for the History of Philosophy", § 7</ref><ref>''Enneads'', iii, 7, 10</ref><ref name="Noiré2">Ludwig Noiré, ''Historical Introduction to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason''</ref> Similarly, for Maria Luisa Gatti, Plotinus' philosophy is a "'contemplationist metaphysics', in which contemplation, as creative, constitutes the reason for the being of everything".<ref name=":6" /> For Neoplatonist thinkers, the first cause or principle is the [[Form of the Good|Idea of the Good]], i.e. The One, from which everything is derived a hierarchical procession (''proodos'') (Enn. VI.7.15).<ref>Dunham et al. 2011, p. 27.</ref>