George Berkley's Philosophical Views

The Renaissance philosopher that contributed the most to the human race was George Berkley. The reason for this fact is because the theories that he constructed played off of the common sense philosophy of Locke, but added in details that made sense and did not go against any common philosophical ideas. Berkley believed that it is not possible to gain knowledge only through indirect perceptions by using only sensory organs. Instead, Berkley stated that in order to accurately perceive whether an object even exists, a combination of senses and the use of the mind, as ideas, had to be used. His theory was that nothing existed outside of the mind, and in order to gain true understanding a person must realize that if the brain does not tell the person that an object is there, and what an object tastes like, then the object is not really there, and it would not have a taste at all (Flage, 2006). In other words, a cookie might be sweet to one person, and sour to another. This is due to each individual person using their sensory perceptions, along with the ideas stored within the mind. Another aspect of this philosophy is that shape and size are perceived ideas, and location can change the perceived size and shape of the given object. This shows that the mind perceives the size or shape of an object but relates it to the "actual" size of the object. In order to conclude that the object is truly what it is perceived as, the brain analyzes a group of ideas and forms the thought and images in order for the object to be seen and understood.

This theory of Berkley's is considered to be idealism, and his version basically states that all objects, no matter what it is, does not truly exist outside of the mind, and that objects have to be experienced directly through perceptions and ideas (Flage, 2006). To state this in easy to understand terms, if the senses, such as the eyes, do not see an object, and the mind does not distinguish what the object is, then the object is not there according to this specific person. This type of thinking led the way for Empiricism by philosophers in later years.

This theory, however, does not mean that material things are not real. In fact, according to Berkley, material things remain on earth, whether a person is there to see it or not, due to the fact that God sees the object. According to Berkley, this is proof that God does truly exist because in order for material objects to exist, it must be perceived by a mind. And since God is all seeing, this proves that Berkley's theory has to be true. Since God created us, our perceptions and ideas naturally follow the perceptions and ideas of God. So an object can not possibly exist outside of the mind.

Daniel E. Flage George Berkley The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy