CoPhi: George Berkley

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

George Berkley - Jacob Stahl

George Berkley and his philosophy of Empiricism

Empiricism is a response to skepticism it is the belief that senses, and experience is the most reliable form of knowledge. This response falls heavily under what Aristotle believed was the best way to answer questions. Such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle Berkley had a teacher or more like a muse, that would be John Locke. Locke developed a distinction to figure out whether our senses accurately reflect the outside world, Primary and secondary qualities. Primary qualities being proprieties physical objects themselves have this includes the figure, mobility, and other physical qualities an object can have. These qualities to Locke were unrefusable while secondary qualities are only perceived by our minds color, taste, sound. George Berkeley took this philosophy of perception to the extreme. His thoughts on the primary and secondary was that in order to perceive any primary qualities you most always perceive the secondary. You can’t see a apple without color therefore you cant measure the height or tell its figure. Therefore, primary qualities are not real just like the secondary qualities. So, Berkeley came to this conclusion that “there’s just no such thing as matter. There cannot be! Instead, there’s only perceptions.”. “Ese est percpi” to be Is to be perceived was the term he used to describe this. So, in his take on empiricism there are no objects only perceivers. In this world things only exist while being perceived but things still happen when not being perceived how is that? Berkeley came with the solution god must be the ultimate perceiver watching all objects at once.

. If everything must be perceived to exist who is perceiving god?

. Do you agree with Locke’s ideals or Berkeley’s more? And why?

. Have you ever had the thought that if you are not looking at something it doesn’t exist?

. If a tree falls in a forest dose it make a sound?

Research:

https://iep.utm.edu/berkeley/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5C-s4JrymKM

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/berkeley/

3 comments:

DericaMarch 2, 2021 at 2:40 PM
#8 I assume that the universe or space is perceiving god? Someone could also try to question if the universe is actually our learned idea of the "universe" as well. Makes you question where we truly are right now. I don't fully agree with either, but especially the apple analogy. I'm trying to wrap my head around it still because like without seeing the color red then wouldn't it just be black and white or gray,but you can still recognize shadows. I guess Berkely is saying the object is not there without color. Would that apply to differences in humans as well? I often forget about things, but I wouldn't say that I think they never existed or just poofed disappeared. The thickness of a trunk of a tree would make a sound if it doesnt get stopped midway by other trees like a pillow.
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― Kurt Vonnegut
==

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― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark

==
On the other hand, eastern enlightenment...

“Not thinking about anything is Zen. Once you know this, walking, sitting, or lying down, everything you do is Zen.”
― Bodhidharma, The Zen Teaching of Bodhidharma

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