idealists

Idealists are people who aim to live according to high moral, ethical, or intellectual ideals. In everyday language, an idealist pursues better principles or a more perfect society, and may be viewed as hopeful or impractical depending on the context.

In philosophy, idealism is a family of theories that treats mind, spirit, or ideas as fundamental to reality. Transcendental idealism, associated with Immanuel Kant, holds that our knowledge of objects is shaped by the structures of perception and cognition. Subjective idealism, linked with George Berkeley, contends that material objects exist only as they are perceived. Absolute idealism, most associated with Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, argues that reality and thought are expressions of a single, comprehensive rational process.

Historically, German Idealism encompasses these strands and shaped 19th‑century philosophy. British idealists later attempted to reinterpret empiricist ideas within a framework of mind and social experience. In contemporary usage, “idealist” often designates someone who prioritizes moral or visionary goals over immediate practical constraints, or who favors reformist or utopian programs rather than cautious realism.

See also: idealism, realism, utopianism.