In This Dialogue Berkeley Defends His Belief That Only Ideas

question 7

Multiple Choice

In this dialogue Berkeley defends his belief that only ideas exist. "To be is to be perceived"-to be is to be an idea in a mind-and hence matter existing apart from the mind does not exist. In this dialogue Hylas (from the Greek word for "matter") debates with Philonous (from the Greek "love of mind") . The unique thing about Berkeley's idealism is that unlike traditional idealism (e.g., Plato's) , it is not rationalistic. Berkeley does not propose that ideas exist independently but rather assumes an empirical foundation. He agrees with Locke that all ideas originate in sense experience and proceeds to show that all we ever experience are ideas. The only reality that exists to be known is perceivers and perceptions. To hold all of this ideal reality together one must posit a Divine mind that perceives us and hence causes our existence as ideas in the Divine's mind.
-Philonous concludes that God exists because

• A) material substance exists.
• B) all sensible things must be perceived by him.
• C) God perceives all things having absolute subsistence.
• D) God is material substance.

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