Berkeley

Question 1

Berkeley’s argument for thinking that when I say ‘elephant’, I am always referring to my ideas.

Answer 1

Everything we know, we know through perception. Through perception we only get sensible qualities that are ideas.

So when we use the word elephant, what we refer to is the ideas we have we get of the sensible qualities that elephants have: its silhouette, its colour, its rough skin. So the idea of an elephant is a collection of sensible ideas in our mind that together combine to become an Elephant.

Question 2

Berkeley’s argument for concluding that we cannot conceive of things as unconceived

Answer 2

In sofar as you try to think of something as no-one is perceiving, then in that very moment, you are percieving that thing. So you cannot think of something without it being bringing thought about.

1. if i conceive of X as unconcealed, then i conceived X
2. If i conceive of X, then X is an Idea
3. If X is an idea, it exists only if perceived
4. If X exist only if perceived, it cannot exist unconceived
5. it impossible to conceive of X as unconceived.

Question 3

Berkeley’s argument for thinking we cannot decide what we see.

Answer 3

There is a difference between minds and ideas:

Ideas are passive, they cannot cause things to happen.

My mind can cause ideas in me by putting different ideas together (image pink elephant)

These ideas are just not as vivid and clear as ideas put in our head by god. I can think of a pink elephant but it will feel less clear to me than the things i can actually percieved. This is the case because the latter is caused in us by God.

Question 4

What ideas can I cause in the mind and how are they different from perception?

Answer 4

The ideas that we cause in our mind, they are going to be more weak than the ideas that we get from perception. The latter is caused by god and are more vivid and clear. The quality is different.

Question 5

Berkeley’s claim that all that exists are minds and ideas.

Answer 5

1. Perceptual experience gives us ideas
2. The things we know, we learned from perceptual experience.
3. So, everything we know is just made up from ideas
4. Since ideas exist only in the mind, everything you know exists only in the mind (to be is to be perceived [by god])
5. So nothing exists outside the mind.

According to Berkeley, ideas don’t resemble things independent outside the mind. So they don’t indicate that matter exists. Primary qualities are in our mind, square or solid, so our idea of primary qualities, are qualities we perceive. So primary qualities are just in our heads.

Question 6

What is gods role in his theory?

Answer 6

God, as an infinite and omniscient mind, continuously perceives everything in the universe. Even when humans are not perceiving a tree, for example, God is always perceiving it, which ensures that the tree continues to exist. In this way, the stability and continuity of the physical world are explained by God’s constant perception.