Uploaded December 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Content:

I. Berkeley’s Doctrine of the Reality of the Immediately Known: Myself and my Ideas

II. Berkeley’s Negative Doctrine: The Disproof of the Existence of Matter (Non-ideal Reality)
Matter does not exist, whether conceived as
a. Immediately perceived objects (non-ideal and independent of consciousness), for these are complexes of ideal qualities
b. Inferred non-ideal and independent reality, for this would
be either: —
Known to be like sense-ideas, but so ideal; (or) . .1 2 6
Not known to be like sense-ideas, but, in this case, either
Cause of sense-ideas, and so related to the ideal; (or)
Mere unknown reality, and so mere nothing

III. Berkeley’s Positive Doctrine of Inferred Reality
a. The creative spirit, God, is known to exist as cause of sensible ideas
b. Other created spirits are known to exist through the ideas by them excited in us
c. The world of nature is a series of sensations imprinted on our minds by God

IV. Critical Estimate of Berkeley’s System
a. Of Berkeley’s doctrine concerning God: —
Berkeley proves at most the existence of a greater-than-human spirit
Berkeley does not prove the creativeness of God
b. Of Berkeley’s doctrine of knowledge: —
Berkeley’s conception of knowledge as copy of reality would make knowledge impossible

#Philosophy