All philosophies created since the advent of class society have fallen into one of two main camps: idealism or materialism.
Idealism
Idealist philosophies begin with ideas and hold that these are of primary importance in shaping reality.
This means that people’s thoughts and ideas are seen as the primary factor in shaping the material world. The “law of attraction” is one such manifestation of this: it says that a person attracts the things that they think about into their life; therefore, they need only to think about the things they covet in order to “manifest” them.
Such a belief takes no account of a person’s material conditions. A belief system like this holds it equally probable that an imprisoned pauper can become the next monarch as the crown prince can, if only they think hard enough about attracting it into their life.
Idealism, then, is characterized by trying to impose ideas that are created in a vacuum upon the material world.
Materialism
Materialist philosophies hold the material conditions of the world to be of primary importance. They start with an examination of material conditions and only then, based upon that examination, formulate ideas to improve people’s lives.
The Marxist philosophical framework is part of this tradition. Adherents first examine particular things rigorously, from all sides, in order to understand all the conflicts inside them, as well as the conflicts between them and external things. Once that’s done, they’re able to figure out the most pragmatic steps to take towards achieving their goals.
Materialism, then, is characterized by the concrete examination of concrete things, and the use of that knowledge to make informed decisions.
The Class Nature of Philosophy
Why should we bother learning to distinguish between these two philosophical trends? And why should we adopt one over the other?
Throughout the ages, ideology has always been a tool of class conflict. The ruling class always favours idealist philosophies, as they obscure the class struggle within society. When people try to live according to ideas that are created without considering material conditions, they tend to be ineffective at changing the world, and so end up upholding the status quo instead.
Idealist philosophies can also be proactively created or adopted to be useful to the ruling class. Since there’s no need to prove the basis of such beliefs materially, elite members of society are able to spread belief systems whose moral strictures reinforce class society.
Materialist philosophies, meanwhile, form the ideology of the oppressed and exploited classes. From slaves in slaves societies, to workers in the restaurants and factories today, the exploited people are rarely best served by living “honourably” within the status quo. These people have practical problems to solve and need a philosophical framework that will help them to do that.
By examining the material conditions of their world, followers of materialist philosophies are able to identify the causes of their own oppression and formulate steps to end it.
Summary
- Idealist philosophies hold ideas as being of primary importance in shaping reality.
- Materialist philosophies hold material conditions as being of primary importance in determining reality.
- Idealistic philosophies obscure the class nature of society, while materialist philosophies bring it into sharp relief.
- Idealism leads people to uphold the status quo, by failing to give them the tools to effectively analyse and change the world.
- Materialism gives people a concrete understanding of the material world, and identifies steps likely to affect positive change.
