Berkeley
Bkgrd Info
- 1685-1753
- bishop in the Irish church
- Mission to the Americas
Epistemology
- idealist - denied the possibility of inert, mindless, material substance.
- core idea: for something to exist it has to be perceived by the active being that does the perceiving.
- "if a tree falls in the forest where no one hears it, does it make a sound?"
- since everything is in the mind, if it's not perceived it doesn't exist
- What is the resemblance to matter? Only an idea resembles an idea.
- Therefore, we must be skeptical about the material world
- Everything is an idea in the mind of God