Warning: Use of undefined constant referer - assumed 'referer' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 102

Warning: Use of undefined constant host - assumed 'host' (this will throw an Error in a future version of PHP) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 105

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 106

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays:102) in /usr/home/essaywo/public_html/essays on line 109
Berkeley's Theory Of Immaterialism - College Essays

Berkeley's Theory Of Immaterialism



As man progressed through the various stages of evolution, it is assumed that at a certain point he began to ponder the world around him. Of course, these first attempts fell short of being scholarly, probably consisting of a few grunts and snorts at best. As time passed on, though, these ideas persisted and were eventually tackled by the more intellectual, so-called philosophers. Thus, excavation of "the external world" began. As the authoritarinism of the ancients gave way to the more liberal views of the modernists, two main positions concerning epistemology and the nature of the world arose. The first view was exemplified by the empiricists, who stated that all knowledge ...

Want to read the rest of this paper?
Join Essayworld today to view this entire essay
and over 50,000 other term papers

The main figure who believed that material substance did not exist is George Berkeley. In truth, it is the immaterialist position that seems the most logical when placed under close scrutiny.
The initial groundwork for Berkeley's position is the truism that the materialist is a skeptic. In the writing of his three dialogues, Berkeley develops two characters: Hylas (the materialist) and Philonous (Berkeley himself). Philonous draws upon one central supposition of the materialist to formulate his argument of skepticism against him; this idea is that one can never perceive the real essence of anything. In short, the materialist feels that the information received through sense experience gives a representative picture of the outside world (the representative theory of perception), and one can not penetrate to the true essece of an object. This makes logical sense, for the only way to perceive this real essence would be to become the object itself! Although the idea is ...

Get instant access to over 50,000 essays.
Write better papers. Get better grades.


Already a member? Login

would be number, figure, motion, and extension. Secondary qualities are those things that are concrete (sense oriented), such as color, smell, sound, and taste. The materialist feels that these primary qualities persist even when the secondary ones are not there. Thus, if a person were blind, then that individual would not be able to hear or to touch items; yet the so-called real qualities such as figure would remain existent in the objects. As previously shown, the materialist is agnostic in his belief of these real (primary) qualities. It is here that Berkeley directs an alternate hypothesis: that the abstract primary qualities don't exist at all. In fact, the immaterialist ...

Succeed in your coursework without stepping into a library.
Get access to a growing library of notes, book reports,
and research papers in 2 minutes or less.


CITE THIS PAGE:

Berkeley's Theory Of Immaterialism. (2007, November 20). Retrieved December 23, 2024, from http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Berkeleys-Theory-Of-Immaterialism/74625
"Berkeley's Theory Of Immaterialism." Essayworld.com. Essayworld.com, 20 Nov. 2007. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Berkeleys-Theory-Of-Immaterialism/74625>
"Berkeley's Theory Of Immaterialism." Essayworld.com. November 20, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Berkeleys-Theory-Of-Immaterialism/74625.
"Berkeley's Theory Of Immaterialism." Essayworld.com. November 20, 2007. Accessed December 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/Berkeleys-Theory-Of-Immaterialism/74625.
JOIN NOW
Join today and get instant access to this and 50,000+ other essays


PAPER DETAILS
Added: 11/20/2007 05:44:07 PM
Category: English
Type: Premium Paper
Words: 2566
Pages: 10

Save | Report

SHARE THIS PAPER

SAVED ESSAYS
Save and find your favorite essays easier

SIMILAR ESSAYS
» Role Of Women In Bedouins and N...
» Rising And Falling Of The Berl
» Labeling Theory and Deviant Beh...
» Morality; The Pre-existing And ...
» Business Planning
» Mark Twain 2
» Housing Discrimination And Hou
» Personal Writing: Fragment - Ch...
» Teaching Philosophy
» Analysis Of Do Not Go Gentle I
Copyright | Cancel | Contact Us

Copyright © 2024 Essayworld. All rights reserved