Greetings, everyone. I would like to try something different with this latest post. Rather than expounding my own views on various issues (for now, at least), I would like to make this blog properly philosophical by opening up a forum for some dialogue. Of course, I get to choose the topic, so I get to funnel the philosophical energy (tyranny!), but I hope that those of you with any thoughts on the topic (don't be shy) will feel welcome to generously share them in this cyber space. Any thoughts will do, really...anything from a visceral reaction to a cogent refutation/appraisal. So, without further ado, I give you the discussion-piece for this forum: George Berkeley's Proof for the Existence of God.
Premise #1- "Sensible things cannot exist otherwise than in a mind or spirit."
Berkeley held that the objects of sense perception were mind-dependent because (he thought) without a mind they would not exist. The famous (in philosophy) phrase "esse est percipi (aut percipere)"--"to be is to be perceived (or to perceive)"--comes from Berkeley.
Premise #2- "They (objects of sensation) do not depend on my thought, and have an existence distinct from being perceived by me."
Basically, he is saying that we do not come up with our sense perceptions, they just happen. They are not just perceived by us, either.
Conclusion- "There must be some other Mind wherein they exist."
Added bonus- "And from the variety, order, and manner of these, I conclude the Author of them to be wise, powerful, and good, beyond comprehension.”
Because we do not come up with our perceptions, but because they can only exist in minds, there must be some other mind that causes sense perception. He concludes that this all-perceiving mind is good, powerful, and wise because of the laws that perception follow. Just an FYI, if you want to agree with Berkeley, be prepared to concede that matter has no independent existence from the mind. Dialogue...begin!
ooh, sound like ghosts floating around!:)
ReplyDeleteHoly Ghost!!
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