Two and One-Half Arguments for Idealism

Authors

Bennett Gilbert, Portland State UniversityFollow

Published In

Idealistic Studies

Document Type

Citation

Publication Date

6-18-2023

Abstract

John Foster, an Oxford analytical philosopher, and Borden Parker Bowne, the founder of “Boston Personalism” at the turn of the twentieth century both presented unique arguments for idealism that are deeply different from one another. Because neither is now well known, this paper lays out their reasoning as carefully and as clearly as possible, finding Bowne’s case for personalist idealism to be the stronger of the two in terms of ontology. But the inquiry is framed on the problems of the moral affordances of ontology and of the need of moral philosophy for grounding in ontology. Although this is a very large area, a partial conclusion—the “half argument” of the title—is drawn for further development.

Rights

© Idealistic Studies

Locate the Document

https://doi.org/10.5840/idstudies20221128145

DOI

10.5840/idstudies20221128145

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/40413

Citation Details

Gilbert, B. (2022). Two and One-Half Arguments for Idealism. Idealistic Studies, 52(3), 225–243.