Epistemological idealism is asubjectivist position inepistemology that holds that what one knows about an object exists only in one's mind. It is opposed toepistemological realism.
Epistemological idealism suggests that everything weexperience and know is of a mental nature—sense data in philosophical jargon. Although it is sometimes employed to argue in favor ofmetaphysical idealism, in principle epistemological idealism makes no claim about whether sense data are grounded in reality. As such, it is a container for bothindirect realism andidealism. This is the version of epistemological idealism which interestedLudwig Boltzmann; it had roots in thepositivism ofErnst Mach andGustav Kirchhoff plus a number of aspects of theKantianism orneo-Kantianism ofHermann von Helmholtz andHeinrich Hertz.[1]
A contemporary representative of epistemological idealism isBrand Blanshard.[2]
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