idealism

Description
The view which denies that there is an external world independent of our experience of it.

1. Core Belief: Idealists, like George Berkeley, argue that reality is fundamentally shaped by our perceptions. In other words, "to be is to be perceived."
2. Perception-Centric: This view suggests that the world is constructed out of our sensory experiences, rather than existing as something separate from them.
3. Radical Claim: If no one is perceiving something (like a tree falling in a forest), idealism posits that it doesn't exist in any meaningful way.
4. Response to Skepticism: Idealism addresses the problem of the external world by asserting that our knowledge comes from perceptions, which are real in their own right.

As a sub-category of idealism, transcendental idealism softens the blow by positing that an external world does exist (we can't be possibly that self involved) and that our perceptual experiences are responses to an external world, even if we are not directly acquainted with this world in perceptual experience (a parallel universe?)