immaterialism

Immaterialism is a philosophical position that holds that material objects do not exist independently of perception or mental content. In its strongest form, it contends that reality is constituted by minds or ideas rather than by mind-independent matter. As a result, objects are understood as collections of perceptual or mental representations, and the existence of the external world is explained in terms of perception, consciousness, or divine grounding rather than as a substratum of matter.

Historically, immaterialism is most closely associated with 18th-century philosopher George Berkeley. Berkeley argued that to exist is to be perceived or to be capable of being perceived, encapsulated in the dictum esse est percipi (to be is to be perceived). He denied the reality of material substance as a distinct, unknowable kind of thing and maintained that objects persist in the mind through regular perceptions and, when needed, through the sustaining perception of God who ensures continuity of experience.

In contemporary discussions, immaterialism is commonly treated as a form of idealism, distinguishing itself from materialism by rejecting mind-independent matter. Variants differ on whether the mental or perceptual content alone constitutes reality (subjective idealism) or whether reality depends on a non-physical but still mind-dependent order (objective or absolute idealism). In philosophy of mind, discussions sometimes contrast immaterialist positions with physicalist or dualist theories about the nature of consciousness and matter.

Criticisms of immaterialism typically target the coherence of a purely perception-based ontology, the apparent stability and causal efficacy of objects, and the explanatory power of positing God or other mechanisms to guarantee continuity. Proponents respond by appealing to coherence, epistemic justification, and, for some, the necessity of a mind-dependent framework to account for perception.