Idealism vs. Reality: Comparing the Legacy of Plato, Kant, and the Analytic Tradition

Abstract

Abstract
The ongoing philosophical debate between idealism and reality has shaped Western thought from antiquity to the present day. This study undertakes a comparative analysis of three major philosophical traditions – Plato's metaphysical idealism, Kant's transcendental idealism and the analytical tradition's logical approach to truth and reality. Using a qualitative and comparative methodology based on textual analysis of primary and secondary philosophical sources, the study examines how the concept of reality has developed from transcendent spiritual forms to cognitively structured experience and ultimately to linguistic and logical frameworks. The findings reveal an important philosophical shift from ontology to epistemology and language, while demonstrating the continued relevance of normative principles in contemporary debates about education, ethics, digital reality and global governance. The study concludes that the idealism-realism debate remains philosophically and practically important in the modern world, and provides important tools for navigating post-truth discourses, technological dissemination of experience and ethical leadership in the twenty-first century.