preview

George Berkeley's Response To Materialism

Decent Essays
Open Document
George Berkeley seeks to prove that “everything there is, is a mind or a mind’s contents” . His overall goal consists of arguing against materialism in an attempt to promote idealism instead. Berkeley does this by introducing his “likeness objection”, in opposition to the traditional representation theory of perception. Another approach that Berkeley takes in describing the lack of distinction between primary and secondary qualities. I, however, believe that his “likeness objection” and his thoughts towards primary and secondary qualities is not as convincing as he honestly thinks it is, and that its usage could potentially help promote materialism instead of dismantling it. In order to fully explain how I believe the “likeness objection” is ineffective, I will present three sections worth of information. In section one, I will state Berkeley’s approach to idealism and how he integrates his “likeness objection” into it; in section two, I will put forth my thoughts and claims about the matter; and in section three, I will anticipate one possible criticism and respond to that criticism accordingly. Section I Berkeley’s advocacy of idealism stemmed from the different definition that…show more content…
And what do we perceive besides our own ideas or sensations? And is it not plainly repugnant that any one of these or any combination of them should exist unperceived?” In an effort to anticipate any criticism that his argument might obtain, Berkeley plans to respond to what someone might say if they were to support a representational theory of perception. A representationalist might suggest that Berkeley’s argument is invalid because premise one could only be true his idea of “perceive” is being used indirectly, and premise two could only be true if “perceive” is being directly
Get Access
Related
Get Access