Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-n9wrp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T17:02:10.202Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Non-existence of Matter

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2009

Extract

It is probably true to say that the majority of philosophers have considered the universe to be mental. If the universe is really mental, it follows that matter cannot be quite real, and many philosophers have in fact brought forward cogent reasons for regarding matter as in some sense illusory. Those who hold this view are called Idealists. Idealism has historically assumed a number of different forms, between some of which there is little in common, but all forms of Idealism agree in maintaining that objects, such as chairs and tables, of which common sense believes the external world to exist, are not material.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 1928

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)