Idealism is when you think that the world is determined by ideas, materialism is when you think that the world is determined by material. Facts don't care about your feelings! :gun-shapiro:

    • silent_water [she/her]
      ·
      3 years ago

      I think about it from the perspective on each of how we change the world. idealism would have it that if we change minds, we change the future, that our ideas create reality. materialism is the opposite. our ideas reflect things that we believe about the world but we can believe whatever we like and nothing will change because present conditions, including our ideas about ourselves and our conditions, are uniquely determined by the earlier conditions from which they arose. so, if you wish to change the world, you must meaningfully change present circumstances.

      ... I want to continue this post to talk about dialectics and historical materialism but I just got with a nasty aura that's robbed me of my last remaining brain cells.

      • Rem [she/her]
        ·
        3 years ago

        Best of luck resisting the pernicious energies 😔

      • wmz [any]
        hexagon
        ·
        3 years ago

        nice try, but still wrong

        • silent_water [she/her]
          ·
          3 years ago

          this is the kind of nerd shit that's condescending and gets on people's nerves. philosophical materialism is the position that all that exists is the material, phenomenological world, that the world of concepts and ideals does not exist separately from it and does not in fact exist. so what? this is a political board. what does that actually translate into for people who want to actually do things in the world? how do you get there without talking about Hegel and Marx?

          • wmz [any]
            hexagon
            ·
            edit-2
            3 years ago

            Im just telling you that you are wrong, Im not being condescending.

            No sane human actually believes that one's ideas dictate how the world works, that if you think differently, the world will literally change due to your will. It's just a ridiculous strawman for intellectually lazy vulgar materialists to abuse. In these interpretations, idealism means focusing on "subjectivity" rather than focusing on "objectivity" like materialism, and of course, facts and logic triumph over feelings, so materialism is superior. Basically forcefully removing as much human subjectivity from the equation to obtain some "materialist" position that seems objectively correct. In the political context, this is manifested in brainworms such as economic determinism and all sorts of other essentialism and reductionism that seek to reduce history and society into a mechanical process, where the facts and logic of "the material conditions" dictate its progress, regardless of your feelings.

            The materialism of Marx is not about the rejection and exclusion of human subjectivity, it is in fact the opposite. It is about embracing them and incorporating them into the equation to lead humanity to liberation.

            • NotARobot [she/her]
              ·
              edit-2
              3 years ago

              No sane human actually believes that one’s ideas dictate how the world works, that if you think differently, the world will literally change due to your will.

              It's funny that you call this a strawman because I've never seen any leftist on here or anywhere say, suggest that anyone believes this is the case. Tbh this whole post reeks of wrecker shit. If you think your comrades seriously misunderstand a foundational concept to marxism, shouldn't you at least post some kind of basic explanation?

              • wmz [any]
                hexagon
                ·
                edit-2
                3 years ago

                have you looked at the responses in this thread, this is what people literally think is idealism and materialism. I hoped that the post will make people realize that they are seriously misunderstanding a foundational concept to marxism, and that they would actually go read marx. Theses On Feuerbach from The German Ideology in particular, in regards to materialism.