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George Berkeley 1685-1753

George Berkeley 1685-1753. To Be Is to be Perceived. Objects of human knowledge. 1) Ideas that are imprinted by the senses. (i.e., sight-color, touch–soft and hard, smell–odor, the palate–tastes, and hearing – sounds. 2) Ideas that we have by attending to the

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George Berkeley 1685-1753

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  1. George Berkeley1685-1753 To Be Is to be Perceived

  2. Objects of human knowledge 1)Ideas that are imprinted by the senses. (i.e., sight-color, touch–soft and hard, smell–odor, the palate–tastes, and hearing – sounds. 2) Ideas that we have by attending to the operations of the mind, (i.e., happiness, sadness, etc.) 3) Ideas that are formed by memory and imagination.

  3. A Thing/Substance • A set combination of these ideas constitutes a thing. • For example: an apple is a combination of the ideas red, hard, round, etc.

  4. Mind, Spirit or Soul • Besides ideas there is also the thing that knows or perceives the ideas. • The ideas are distinct from that which perceives them.

  5. Ontology/The World 1) Ideas 2)Minds What about Matter?

  6. The meaning of “Exists” • What does it mean to say that something exists? • “This chair exists.”

  7. Exists-Locke and common folk • There is a material thing in the world that exists independent of anyone thinking of it. • So the chair exists independent of anyone thinking of it.

  8. Exists-Berkeley • “To exist is to be perceived” • Therefore nothing can exists independent of thought. • MATTER DOES NOT EXIST!

  9. BERKELEY’S ARGUMENTS • Manifest Contradiction • A product of the work of abstraction and not reality (an illusion). • Berkeley’s Challenge • Ockham’s Razor • Mind-Body Problem • If (5) is true, corporeal substances do not explain ideas (not sufficient) • Corporeal substances are not necessary either for explaining ideas. • Epistemological Argument • Matter is indefinable. • God would not create superfluous things.

  10. 1. Contradiction Principle: Objects are composed of a stuff called PHYSICAL MATTER which exists independent of the mind (unperceived). 1. All objects in the world are nothing but a collection of ideas. 2. Ideas can only exist in the mind. 3. Therefore, all objects must exist in the mind.

  11. 2. Abstract ideas • I can abstract one idea from another insofar as I can consider them separate. • For instance, I can think of the smell of the rose without thinking of the rose. • I cannot, however, “conceive in my thoughts any sensible thing or object distinct from the perception of it.” • That is, I cannot abstract existence from perception, because to exist is to be perceived.

  12. 3. Berkeley’s Challenge • “Try to separate in your mind the being [or existence] (esse) ofa sensible thing from its being perceived (percipi). You cannot! • Give me an example of a thing that exists but is not perceived.

  13. 4. Ockham’s Razor Locke’s Ontology Berkeley’s Ontology 1)- God or Eternal Mind 2)-Finite Minds 3)- Ideas 4)- Matter 1)- God or Eternal Mind 2)- Finite Minds 3)-Ideas

  14. 5. Mind-Body Problem • Descartes: Substance dualist (Spiritual and Matter) • Locke: Substance dualist (Spiritual and Matter) • Berkeley: Monist (Spiritual ONLY)

  15. Mind –Body Problem • “For, though we give the materialists their external bodies, they by their own confession are never the nearer knowing how our ideas are produced; since they own themselves unable to comprehend in what manner body can act upon spirit [mind].”

  16. 6. Not a Sufficient Condition • If materialist cannot explain how matter acts to produce ideas, then we can conclude that positing the existence of matter does not help us explain the existence of our ideas.

  17. 7. Corporeal Substance Not Necessary • As we learned from Descartes and as Materialists themselves agree external things are inferred (with a degree of probability) from our ideas. • Therefore, there is no necessary connection between our idea and corporeal substances.

  18. 8. Epistemological Argument • Even if material things did exists independent of thought or perception, it would be impossible to prove it. • Through sense or reason.

  19. 9. What is Matter? • The thing that “supports” the primary properties of bulk, figure, extension, numbers and motion. • So matter is not the primary properties but something we do not know which undergirds them. • What could that possibly be? • Why posit the existence of this strange unexplainable substance?

  20. 10. Why Does a Theist Need Matter? MIND Perception of Extension Figure etc. OBJECT PQ= Extension Figure Etc. Ideas GOD Matter (Superfluous from a theist perspective)

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