Idealism: perception
- Created by: Lishamxrie
- Created on: 22-01-19 20:29
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- Idealism
- Berkeley
- 'How do we know that there is a material world?'
- There is no good reason to believe that there is a real world
- We can only be sure of 3 things
- Our mind
- Our ideas
- God
- Perceiver ==> perception
- Denies that there is a real world
- Scepticism about realist theories as there is a logical gap between reality and perception
- Idealism and primary/ Secondary properties
- Both mind dependant and objective
- Berkeleys attack (secondary qualities)
- Sensations: we all feel different things, some can find a room hot, others may find it cold
- Taste: we all taste things differently, some like the taste of coffee, others dont
- Perceptions are relative (primary and secondary qualities)
- Colour: based on the angle/light, the colour of an object can appear different
- Speed: to someone watching a train, they look like they are moving fast, to a person on the train, they are stationary
- Idealism and God
- Berkeley: an object has 'real being' as long as it is perceived by the mind
- God is omniscient and therefore all real beings exist in the mind of God
- God tells us what the world is like based on our ideas
- We have free will as God does not influence our choices, he just provides the perceptions
- God tells us what the world is like based on our ideas
- God is omniscient and therefore all real beings exist in the mind of God
- Berkeley: an object has 'real being' as long as it is perceived by the mind
- The master argument
- It is impossible for something to exist without being perceived: to be is to be percieved
- If we cannot imagine what something is like, then we cannot say that it exists
- Evaluation
- Strengths
- The world is as it appears
- we are experiencing ideas directly in our minds, so if something is blue it is because my ideas say it is
- Solves the problem of scepticism because objects are mind dependant
- we are experiencing ideas directly in our minds, so if something is blue it is because my ideas say it is
- Empiricism
- We cannot prove nor disprove the real world, but we can understand the world through primary and secondary qualities
- What there is, is all that we can experience
- We cannot prove nor disprove the real world, but we can understand the world through primary and secondary qualities
- The world is as it appears
- Weaknesses
- It is 'absurd': it goes against our intuitions that there is nothing but ideas and no physical world
- Leads to solipsism
- What about other minds? this is the idea that only oneself and their mind exists
- Role played by God
- not everyone believes in God and it is intellectually dishonest to use God as a way to solve problems with idealism
- God is an idea in our minds, so we cannot prove his existance
- Other issues
- Regularity of the universe
- Illusions, hallucinations and dreams
- Continued existance
- Strengths
- Berkeley
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