Berkley's idealism Flashcards
what is meant by anti realism
idea that there is no mind independent world of objects.
what is idealism ?
- anti- realism
- immediate objects of perception= mind dependent
- only exisist as ideas
- must be percieved to exsist
what does esse est percipi mean
to be is to be percieved
what are two arguments for why seconadary qualities are mind dependent
- seconadary qualities have relational properties- dependent on me- mind dependent.
- percpetual vriation/ water argument.
- cold person would think that the water is colder than a warm person.
- the pain/ pleaure argument
what is the pain pleasure argument
- p1- all seconadary qualities associated w pain/pleasure
- p2- pain/plesure- mind dependent- feelings are created by sensations in us not the actual object.
therefore all seconadry qualities are mind dependent.
what does material substratum argue
unmaterial glue- only in relation to the object
how far away something is
what is the duck arguments for berkelys idealism ?
P&S
primary qualities- mass, weight, volume, cant exists without
secondary qualities- subjective ontology, colour, mind dependant
what is the perciever dependant nature of secondary qualities
secondary qualities:
relational properties, dependant on me.
therefore unable to know what colour the table is
duck- perceptual variation- explain
add ex
temp of water example:
someone cold= water going feel hotter
someone warm= water going to feel colder
water = always 40 degrees.
temp = secondary quality
duck- explain the pain/ pleasure argument
p1- all 2 qualities -associated with p&p, farts= pain, fluff= pleasure
p2- must be mind dependant, feelings= creating sensations IN US - subjective not in actual obj
c- therefore all 2 qualities are mind dependant.
outline Berkley’s master argument
P1) Try to conceive of a tree which exists independent of any mind
P2) In doing so, the tree is being conceived by you
C) therefore the tree is in your mind and not independent of any mind after all
what is a criticism of berkelys master argument posed by Russell
Russell argues that Berkely confuses the mental act of conceiving a thing with the thing being conceived. So it is true that my idea of a tree must be in my mind, but it doesn’t follow that that my idea is boy namely the tree itself must be in my mind.
what is a criticism of Berkekys likeness principle
- Berkeley doesn’t explain precisely why he think an idea can only be like another idea. certainly part of his thought is that without being able to compare our ideas with reality we have no way of establishing any such resemblance
