German idealism

Philosophers of German idealism. Kant (top left), Fichte (upper right), Schelling (bottom left), Hegel (lower right)

German idealism is a group of theories in philosophy that began in Germany in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It was related to the Enlightenment and the French revolution. German idealists believed that nothing exists without the mind. This means that while the world exists, our knowledge about the outside world is limited to our experiences. Kant, Hegel, Fichte, and Schelling were the most famous German idealists.