Berkeley slides Flashcards
Is Berkeley a rationalist or an empiricist
empiricist
What is Berkeley’s main question?
What does the world look like without us there?
where was berkeley born
ireland
what was berkeley’s job?
anglican bishop
Berkeley was a subjective idealist. What does this mean?
its all just what you think
Who was Berkeley a critic of?
Descartes and Locke
Idealist
only minds and their ideas
Immaterialist
no such thing as matter
Aim of Berkeley’s work
To restore common sense, against the “metaphysical” philosophers.
- “…we have first raised a dust and then complain we cannot see.”
What does Berkeley think about skepticism?
He wants to overcome skepticism
(Skepticism: Do my ideas match the things out there?)
What does Berkeley think about hyperbolic doubt?
Berkeley rejects hyperbolic doubt
How do we know that anything is real?
because of our senses
The only object of human knowledge
ideas
Three kinds of ideas
(1) imprinted on the senses
(2) Of the passions and operations of the mind
(3) from memory or imagination
Examples of ideas that are Imprinted on the senses
yellow, spicy, wet
examples of ideas that are of the passions and operations of the mind
doubting, fearing, craving
Example of ideas that are from the memory or imagination
Combines, modifies the above 2
Ex: A traumatic memory of that spicy, yellow mustard I ate last week
What is the only other thing that exists?
MINDS (intuitive; since we have ideas)
Minds are ___ things that receive ___ ideas
Minds are the ACTIVE things that perceive PASSIVE ideas.
Matter which exists apart from ideas is literally _____
Unintelligible
(if it is not a mind or thought, it is unintelligble)
Does berkeley accept or deny the
Corpuscular hypothesis?
Berkeley denies the Corpuscular hypothesis
what is the Corpuscular hypothesis
There is stuff/matter that is out there
Esse est percipi
“To be is to be perceived”
Therefore, what should happen when we don’t perceive an object?
it disappears
why don’t objects disappear when we stop perceiving them?
it subsists in the mind of god
(Subjective idealism)
If a tree falls and no one is around to perceive it, did it really fall?
God perceives everything. When the tree falls, it exists. It makes sound, is green, sappy, etc.
Critique of John Locke
The distinction between primary and secondary qualities is
meaningless.
“But it is evident from what we have already shown, that extension,
figure, and motion are only ideas existing in the mind, and that an
idea can be like nothing but another idea?”
What does Berkeley say about bare substances
there is no such thing as a bare substance. (ex: an apply minus its properities)
Substance adds nothing to our knowledge
What does Berkeley say about the interaction problem
it is impossible
Proof that god exists
I can’t simply will what I see, touch, smell, etc
We can only have ideas. God has the only real ideas
Why are there predictable, laws of nature?
- Since there is no actual matter
- God’s Goodness (similar to Leibniz)
We don’t need mathematically certain laws to get around, only _____ and ____
Only “observe nature” and use “common sense”
(Ex: reaping and planting times)
So what is ultimately real?
only the ideas implanted in us by god
Objection to what Berkeley believes is real and his response
OBJECTION: So the fire isn’t real? Then place your hand in it.
REPLY: What is pain, apart from the IDEA, (perception or feeling) of it?
What does Berkeley think about causality?
There is no causality. God is good therefore his ideas of the world should be regular and put together.
