The Critique of Berkeley and Hume. Sunday, April 19, 2015

Size: px
Start display at page:

Download "The Critique of Berkeley and Hume. Sunday, April 19, 2015"

Transcription

1 The Critique of Berkeley and Hume

2 George Berkeley ( ) Idealism best defense of common sense against skepticism Descartes s and Locke s ideas of objects make no sense. Attack on primary qualities and on substance

3 Against Primary Qualities We have no basis for thinking any of our ideas corresponds to some mindindependent reality. We cannot judge resemblance to reality. Perceptions of width, height, etc., vary while objects remain unchanged.

4 Against Primary Qualities Philonous. But, from what you have laid down it follows that both the extension by you perceived, and that perceived by the mite itself, as likewise all those perceived by lesser animals, are each of them the true extension of the mite s foot; that is to say, by your own principles you are led into an absurdity.

5 Mite s View

6 Mite s View

7 Against Primary Qualities Philonous. But, as we approach to or recede from an object, the visible extension varies, being at one distance ten or a hundred times greater than another. Doth it not therefore follow from hence likewise that it is not really inherent in the object?

8 Shiprock

9 Shiprock

10 Shiprock

11 Shiprock

12 Shiprock

13 Not in the Object Philonous. Is it not the very same reasoning to conclude, there is no extension or figure in an object, because to one eye it shall seem little, smooth, and round, when at the same time it appears to the other, great, uneven, and regular? Hylas. The very same. But does this latter fact ever happen? Philonous. You may at any time make the experiment, by looking with one eye bare, and with the other through a microscope.

14 Against Substance Locke treats substance as the basis for properties Something, I know not what But this has no content We experience only qualities, not underlying substances

15 Locke on Substance So that if any one will examine himself concerning his notion of pure substance in general, he will find he has no other idea of it at all, but only a supposition of he knows not what support of such qualities which are capable of producing simple ideas in us; which qualities are commonly called accidents.

16 Locke on Substance If any one should be asked, what is the subject wherein colour or weight inheres, he would have nothing to say, but the solid extended parts; and if he were demanded, what is it that solidity and extension adhere in, he would not be in a much better case than the Indian before mentioned who, saying that the world was supported by a great elephant, was asked what the elephant rested on; to which his answer was a great tortoise: but being again pressed to know what gave support to the broad-backed tortoise, replied something, he knew not what.

17

18

19

20 Against Substance Phil. What shall we say then of your external object; is it a material substance, or no? Hyl. It is a material substance with the sensible qualities inhering in it. Phil. How then can a great heat exist in it, since you own it cannot in a material substance?

21 Against Substance Phil. That the colours are really in the tulip which I see is manifest. Neither can it be denied that this tulip may exist independent of your mind or mine; but, that any immediate object of the senses, that is, any idea, or combination of ideas should exist in an unthinking substance, or exterior to all minds, is in itself an evident contradiction. Nor can I imagine how this follows from what you said just now, to wit, that the red and yellow were on the tulip you saw, since you do not pretend to see that unthinking substance.

22 Infinite Regress Phil. Consequently, every corporeal substance, being the substratum of extension, must have in itself another extension, by which it is qualified to be a substratum: and so on to infinity. And I ask whether this be not absurd in itself, and repugnant to what you granted just now, to wit, that the substratum was something distinct from and exclusive of extension?

23

24

25 Bundle Theory What Aristotle called substances that is, things, objects are just collections or bundles of properties We do not experience anything holding them together

26 Hume Nothing holds them together except our own mental activity Objects are bundles of qualities And they don t come already bundled We do the bundling

27 Esse est Percipi To be is to be perceived For unthinking things, to exist is to be perceived; so they couldn t possibly exist out of the minds or thinking things that perceive them. We have access only to what is before the mind A thing can exist only if it is perceived

28 God Do things go out of existence when we aren t looking at them? No because God keeps an eye on them for us

29 Later idealists Later idealists alter this formula somewhat To be is to be perceivable

30 David Hume ( )

31

32 Hume s Argument vs. Self Source of idea of self? We do not find it in experience All identity through change is imposed by us, not there in the world

33 Bundle Theory of the Self I may venture to affirm of the rest of mankind, that they are nothing but a bundle or collection of different perceptions, which succeed each other with an inconceivable rapidity, and are in a perpetual flux and movement....

34 No Experience of Self For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe any thing but the perception.

35 No Experience of Self... nor have we any idea of self, after the manner it is here explain'd. For from what impression cou'd this idea be deriv'd? Note the assumption, central to Hume s empiricism: ideas come from impressions (sensations, perceptions)

36 Variation... If any impression gives rise to the idea of self, that impression must continue invariably the same, thro' the whole course of our lives; since self is suppos'd to exist after that manner. But there is no impression constant and invariable.... and consequently there is no such idea.

37 Nothing but Perceptions They are the successive perceptions only, that constitute the mind; nor have we the most distant notion of the place, where these scenes are represented, or of the materials, of which it is compos'd.

38 Fictitious Identity The identity, which we ascribe to the mind of man, is only a fictitious one....

39 Imposed Identity Mental states link to other mental states: memory, intention, desire, similarities We construct the idea of self Self is not a unified thing best compared to a commonwealth Questions about identity aren t about the world, but about language

40 True of All Objects Example: Heraclitus: can t step in same river twice

41 True of All Objects The ship of Theseus Plutarch: The ship wherein Theseus and the youth of Athens returned [from Crete] had thirty oars, and was preserved by the Athenians down even to the time of Demetrius Phalereus, for they took away the old planks as they decayed, putting in new and stronger timber in their place, insomuch that this ship became a standing example among the philosophers, for the logical question of things that grow; one side holding that the ship remained the same, and the other contending that it was not the same.

42

43

44 Successions... the objects, which are variable or interrupted, and yet are suppos'd to continue the same, are such only as consist of a succession of parts, connected together by resemblance, contiguity, or causation.... all objects, to which we ascribe identity, without observing their invariableness and uninterruptedness, are such as consist of a succession of related objects.

45 Verbal Disputes... all the nice and subtile questions concerning personal identity can never possibly be decided, and are to be regarded rather as grammatical than as philosophical difficulties.... as the relations, and the easiness of the transition may diminish by insensible degrees, we have no just standard, by which we can decide any dispute concerning the time, when they acquire or lose a title to the name of identity. All the disputes concerning the identity of connected objects are merely verbal....

46

Notes on Hume and Kant

Notes on Hume and Kant Notes on Hume and Kant Daniel Bonevac, The University of Texas at Austin 1 Hume on Identity Hume, an empiricist, asks the question that his philosophical stance demands: nor have we any idea of self, after

More information

Chapter 16 George Berkeley s Immaterialism and Subjective Idealism

Chapter 16 George Berkeley s Immaterialism and Subjective Idealism Chapter 16 George Berkeley s Immaterialism and Subjective Idealism Key Words Immaterialism, esse est percipi, material substance, sense data, skepticism, primary quality, secondary quality, substratum

More information

does. All reality is mental, consisting only of minds and their ideas. Ideas are passive, whereas minds are active. Every idea needs a mind to be in.

does. All reality is mental, consisting only of minds and their ideas. Ideas are passive, whereas minds are active. Every idea needs a mind to be in. Berkeley s Idealism Idealism Matter doesn t exist, but the external world still does. All reality is mental, consisting only of minds and their ideas. Ideas are passive, whereas minds are active. Every

More information

Idealism from A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, Part I by George Berkeley (1720)

Idealism from A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, Part I by George Berkeley (1720) Idealism from A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, Part I by George Berkeley (1720) 1. It is evident to anyone who takes a survey of the objects of human knowledge, that they are either

More information

Man Has No Identical Self

Man Has No Identical Self 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 Man Has No Identical Self by David Hume There are some philosophers who imagine we are every

More information

Realism and its competitors. Scepticism, idealism, phenomenalism

Realism and its competitors. Scepticism, idealism, phenomenalism Realism and its competitors Scepticism, idealism, phenomenalism Perceptual Subjectivism Bonjour gives the term perceptual subjectivism to the conclusion of the argument from illusion. Perceptual subjectivism

More information

David Hume s The Self

David Hume s The Self David Hume s The Self Andrew Rippel Intro to Philosophy 110, Russell Marcus Hume s dealeo with the Self Some philosophers feel the self intimately, are certain of its existence beyond the evidence of a

More information

Berkeley, Three dialogues between Hylas and Philonous focus on p. 86 (chapter 9) to the end (p. 93).

Berkeley, Three dialogues between Hylas and Philonous focus on p. 86 (chapter 9) to the end (p. 93). TOPIC: Lecture 7.2 Berkeley Lecture Berkeley will discuss why we only have access to our sense-data, rather than the real world. He will then explain why we can trust our senses. He gives an argument for

More information

1/10. Primary and Secondary Qualities and the Ideas of Substance

1/10. Primary and Secondary Qualities and the Ideas of Substance 1/10 Primary and Secondary Qualities and the Ideas of Substance This week I want to return to a topic we discussed to some extent in the first year, namely Locke s account of the distinction between primary

More information

Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, In Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists. -by George Berkeley

Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, In Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists. -by George Berkeley Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, In Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists -by George Berkeley Excerpt from The First Dialogue (the dialogue is between two characters: Hylas and Philonous) Hyl.

More information

Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy. Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2011

Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy. Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2011 Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2011 Class 19 - April 5 Finishing Berkeley Marcus, Modern Philosophy, Slide 1 Three Main Berkeley Topics 1. Arguments

More information

Empiricism. HZT4U1 - Mr. Wittmann - Unit 3 - Lecture 3

Empiricism. HZT4U1 - Mr. Wittmann - Unit 3 - Lecture 3 Empiricism HZT4U1 - Mr. Wittmann - Unit 3 - Lecture 3 What can give us more sure knowledge than our senses? How else can we distinguish between the true & the false? -Lucretius The Dream by Henri Rousseau

More information

The British Empiricism

The British Empiricism The British Empiricism Locke, Berkeley and Hume copyleft: nicolazuin.2018 nowxhere.wordpress.com The terrible heritage of Descartes: Skepticism, Empiricism, Rationalism The problem originates from the

More information

Monday, September 26, The Cosmological Argument

Monday, September 26, The Cosmological Argument The Cosmological Argument God? Classical Theism Classical conception of God: God is Eternal: everlasting Omnipotent: all-powerful Transcendent: beyond the world Omnipresent: everywhere Compassionate:

More information

John Locke. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding

John Locke. An Essay Concerning Human Understanding John Locke An Essay Concerning Human Understanding From Rationalism to Empiricism Empiricism vs. Rationalism Empiricism: All knowledge ultimately rests upon sense experience. All justification (our reasons

More information

Chapter 18 David Hume: Theory of Knowledge

Chapter 18 David Hume: Theory of Knowledge Key Words Chapter 18 David Hume: Theory of Knowledge Empiricism, skepticism, personal identity, necessary connection, causal connection, induction, impressions, ideas. DAVID HUME (1711-76) is one of the

More information

New Chapter: Epistemology: The Theory and Nature of Knowledge

New Chapter: Epistemology: The Theory and Nature of Knowledge Intro to Philosophy Phil 110 Lecture 14: 2-22 Daniel Kelly I. Mechanics A. Upcoming Readings 1. Today we ll discuss a. Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding b. Berkeley, Three Dialogues Between

More information

Study Guide to Dialogue 1 Berkeley s Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous --Greg Goode

Study Guide to Dialogue 1 Berkeley s Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous --Greg Goode The Text: We are using an annotated edition of the Dialogues (1713) from Jonathan Bennett s Early Modern Texts (EMT) website. His site updates many philosophers to a more contemporary English. These versions

More information

We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers.

We encourage you to keep this file, exactly as it is, on your own disk, thereby keeping an electronic path open for future readers. The Project Gutenberg Etext of Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, in Opposition to Sceptics and Atheists, by George Berkeley #3 in our series by George Berkeley Copyright laws are changing all

More information

Idealism. Contents EMPIRICISM. George Berkeley and Idealism. Preview: Hume. Idealism: other versions. Idealism: simplest definition

Idealism. Contents EMPIRICISM. George Berkeley and Idealism. Preview: Hume. Idealism: other versions. Idealism: simplest definition Contents EMPIRICISM PHIL3072, ANU, 2015 Jason Grossman http://empiricism.xeny.net preview & recap idealism Berkeley lecture 5: 11 August George Berkeley and Idealism Preview: Hume Not very original on

More information

Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in opposition to Sceptics and Atheists

Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in opposition to Sceptics and Atheists Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in opposition to Sceptics and Atheists George Berkeley Copyright Jonathan Bennett 2017. All rights reserved [Brackets] enclose editorial explanations. Small

More information

George Berkeley. The Principles of Human Knowledge. Review

George Berkeley. The Principles of Human Knowledge. Review George Berkeley The Principles of Human Knowledge Review To be is to be perceived Obvious to the Mind all those bodies which compose the earth have no subsistence without a mind, their being is to be perceived

More information

Class 18 - Against Abstract Ideas Berkeley s Principles, Introduction, (AW ); (handout) Three Dialogues, Second Dialogue (AW )

Class 18 - Against Abstract Ideas Berkeley s Principles, Introduction, (AW ); (handout) Three Dialogues, Second Dialogue (AW ) Philosophy 203: History of Modern Western Philosophy Spring 2012 Hamilton College Russell Marcus Class 18 - Against Abstract Ideas Berkeley s Principles, Introduction, (AW 438-446); 86-100 (handout) Three

More information

Critique of Cosmological Argument

Critique of Cosmological Argument David Hume: Critique of Cosmological Argument Critique of Cosmological Argument DAVID HUME (1711-1776) David Hume is one of the most important philosophers in the history of philosophy. Born in Edinburgh,

More information

Criteria of Identity

Criteria of Identity Philosophy 100 Introduction to Philosophy Section 002 (Johns) Criteria of Identity We saw that, according to Locke, you can t just point at two people and ask whether they re the same one, as the question

More information

Of Skepticism with Regard to the Senses. David Hume

Of Skepticism with Regard to the Senses. David Hume Of Skepticism with Regard to the Senses David Hume General Points about Hume's Project The rationalist method used by Descartes cannot provide justification for any substantial, interesting claims about

More information

The Existence of Material Substance. A Response to George Berkeley s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous. Philosophy 104

The Existence of Material Substance. A Response to George Berkeley s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous. Philosophy 104 The Existence of Material Substance A Response to George Berkeley s Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous Philosophy 104 1 It certainly seems that the majority of people believe in the existence

More information

Apparently conflicting statements like the following make it difficult to determine the nature of Hume's concept of self:

Apparently conflicting statements like the following make it difficult to determine the nature of Hume's concept of self: Unidentified Awareness: of the Self Hume's Perceptions CHRISTIAN K. CAMPOLO University of Kansas Apparently conflicting statements like the following make it difficult to determine the nature of Hume's

More information

Class #17 - Three Arguments for Idealism Berkeley s Principles, 1-33 (AW ) Three Dialogues, First Dialogue (AW )

Class #17 - Three Arguments for Idealism Berkeley s Principles, 1-33 (AW ) Three Dialogues, First Dialogue (AW ) Philosophy 203: History of Modern Western Philosophy Spring 2014 Hamilton College Russell Marcus I. Empiricism and the External World Class #17 - Three Arguments for Idealism Berkeley s Principles, 1-33

More information

From Descartes to Locke. Sense Perception And The External World

From Descartes to Locke. Sense Perception And The External World From Descartes to Locke Sense Perception And The External World Descartes Third Meditation Descartes aim in the third Meditation is to demonstrate the existence of God, using only what (after Med. s 1

More information

Book I. Of the Understanding. Part IV. Of the Sceptical and Other Systems of Philosophy. Section II. Of scepticism with regard to the senses

Book I. Of the Understanding. Part IV. Of the Sceptical and Other Systems of Philosophy. Section II. Of scepticism with regard to the senses Selections from: David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature, L. A. Selby-Bigge, ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1896), Bk. 1, Pt. 4, Sect. 2 (sel.: pp. 206-8), Sect. 5 (sels.: pp. 234-6, 239-40), Sect. 6 (sel.:

More information

Mind s Eye Idea Object

Mind s Eye Idea Object Do the ideas in our mind resemble the qualities in the objects that caused these ideas in our minds? Mind s Eye Idea Object Does this resemble this? In Locke s Terms Even if we accept that the ideas in

More information

Reid Against Skepticism

Reid Against Skepticism Thus we see, that Descartes and Locke take the road that leads to skepticism without knowing the end of it, but they stop short for want of light to carry them farther. Berkeley, frightened at the appearance

More information

Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy. Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2015

Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy. Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2015 Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2015 Class #18 Berkeley Against Abstract Ideas Marcus, Modern Philosophy, Slide 1 Business We re a Day behind,

More information

Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in opposition to Sceptics and Atheists

Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in opposition to Sceptics and Atheists Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous in opposition to Sceptics and Atheists George Berkeley Copyright Jonathan Bennett 2017. All rights reserved [Brackets] enclose editorial explanations. Small

More information

Think by Simon Blackburn. Chapter 4b Free Will/Self

Think by Simon Blackburn. Chapter 4b Free Will/Self Think by Simon Blackburn Chapter 4b Free Will/Self The unobservability of the self David Hume, the Scottish empiricist we met in connection with his critique of Descartes method of doubt, is very skeptical

More information

Do you have a self? Who (what) are you? PHL 221, York College Revised, Spring 2014

Do you have a self? Who (what) are you? PHL 221, York College Revised, Spring 2014 Do you have a self? Who (what) are you? PHL 221, York College Revised, Spring 2014 Origins of the concept of self What makes it move? Pneuma ( wind ) and Psyche ( breath ) life-force What is beyond-the-physical?

More information

Teleological: telos ( end, goal ) What is the telos of human action? What s wrong with living for pleasure? For power and public reputation?

Teleological: telos ( end, goal ) What is the telos of human action? What s wrong with living for pleasure? For power and public reputation? 1. Do you have a self? Who (what) are you? PHL 221, York College Revised, Spring 2014 2. Origins of the concept of self What makes it move? Pneuma ( wind ) and Psyche ( breath ) life-force What is beyond-the-physical?

More information

1/8. Descartes 3: Proofs of the Existence of God

1/8. Descartes 3: Proofs of the Existence of God 1/8 Descartes 3: Proofs of the Existence of God Descartes opens the Third Meditation by reminding himself that nothing that is purely sensory is reliable. The one thing that is certain is the cogito. He

More information

What does it mean if we assume the world is in principle intelligible?

What does it mean if we assume the world is in principle intelligible? REASONS AND CAUSES The issue The classic distinction, or at least the one we are familiar with from empiricism is that causes are in the world and reasons are some sort of mental or conceptual thing. I

More information

THREE DIALOGUES BETWEEN HYLAS AND PHILONOUS

THREE DIALOGUES BETWEEN HYLAS AND PHILONOUS THREE DIALOGUES BETWEEN HYLAS AND PHILONOUS George Berkeley Abridged by H. Gene Blocker Library of Liberal Arts Archive IN OPPOSITION TO SKEPTICS AND ATHEISTS THE FIRST DIALOGUE Good morrow, I did not

More information

Mind and Body. Is mental really material?"

Mind and Body. Is mental really material? Mind and Body Is mental really material?" René Descartes (1596 1650) v 17th c. French philosopher and mathematician v Creator of the Cartesian co-ordinate system, and coinventor of algebra v Wrote Meditations

More information

Hume on Ideas, Impressions, and Knowledge

Hume on Ideas, Impressions, and Knowledge Hume on Ideas, Impressions, and Knowledge in class. Let my try one more time to make clear the ideas we discussed today Ideas and Impressions First off, Hume, like Descartes, Locke, and Berkeley, believes

More information

Introduction to Philosophy PHL 221, York College Revised, Spring 2017

Introduction to Philosophy PHL 221, York College Revised, Spring 2017 Introduction to Philosophy PHL 221, York College Revised, Spring 2017 Beginnings of Philosophy: Overview of Course (1) The Origins of Philosophy and Relativism Knowledge Are you a self? Ethics: What is

More information

Lecture 7.1 Berkeley I

Lecture 7.1 Berkeley I TOPIC: Lecture 7.1 Berkeley I Introduction to the Representational view of the mind. Berkeley s Argument from Illusion. KEY TERMS/ GOALS: Idealism. Naive realism. Representations. Berkeley s Argument from

More information

Unit 4. The Problem of Personal Identity

Unit 4. The Problem of Personal Identity Unit 4 The Problem of Personal Identity Key Questions Where does your identity come from? Is there an enduring self that remains the same over time? What is the basis for claiming the existence of an enduring

More information

Class 17 - Three Arguments for Idealism Berkeley s Principles, 1-33 (AW ) Three Dialogues, First Dialogue (AW )

Class 17 - Three Arguments for Idealism Berkeley s Principles, 1-33 (AW ) Three Dialogues, First Dialogue (AW ) Philosophy 203: History of Modern Western Philosophy Spring 2012 Hamilton College Russell Marcus I. Empiricism and the External World Class 17 - Three Arguments for Idealism Berkeley s Principles, 1-33

More information

The Soul in Locke, Butler, Reid, Hume, and Kant

The Soul in Locke, Butler, Reid, Hume, and Kant Chapter 4 The Soul in Locke, Butler, Reid, Hume, and Kant In the Introduction to their book Naturalization of the Soul: Self and Personal Identity in the Eighteenth Century, Raymond Martin and John Barresi

More information

Of Cause and Effect David Hume

Of Cause and Effect David Hume Of Cause and Effect David Hume Of Probability; And of the Idea of Cause and Effect This is all I think necessary to observe concerning those four relations, which are the foundation of science; but as

More information

Lecture 4: Transcendental idealism and transcendental arguments

Lecture 4: Transcendental idealism and transcendental arguments Lecture 4: Transcendental idealism and transcendental arguments Stroud s worry: - Transcendental arguments can t establish a necessary link between thought or experience and how the world is without a

More information

History of Modern Philosophy. Hume ( )

History of Modern Philosophy. Hume ( ) Hume 1 Hume (1711-1776) With Berkeley s idealism, some very uncomfortable consequences of Cartesian dualism, the split between mind and experience, on the one hand, and the body and the physical world

More information

Perception and Mind-Dependence: Lecture 2

Perception and Mind-Dependence: Lecture 2 1 Recap Perception and Mind-Dependence: Lecture 2 (Alex Moran, apm60@ cam.ac.uk) According to naïve realism: (1) the objects of perception are ordinary, mindindependent things, and (2) perceptual experience

More information

Topics and Posterior Analytics. Philosophy 21 Fall, 2004 G. J. Mattey

Topics and Posterior Analytics. Philosophy 21 Fall, 2004 G. J. Mattey Topics and Posterior Analytics Philosophy 21 Fall, 2004 G. J. Mattey Logic Aristotle is the first philosopher to study systematically what we call logic Specifically, Aristotle investigated what we now

More information

Review Tutorial (A Whirlwind Tour of Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion)

Review Tutorial (A Whirlwind Tour of Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion) Review Tutorial (A Whirlwind Tour of Metaphysics, Epistemology and Philosophy of Religion) Arguably, the main task of philosophy is to seek the truth. We seek genuine knowledge. This is why epistemology

More information

BERKELEY S COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO LOCKE S THEORY OF INFERENTIAL KNOWLEDGE *

BERKELEY S COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO LOCKE S THEORY OF INFERENTIAL KNOWLEDGE * BERKELEY S COMMON SENSE APPROACH TO LOCKE S THEORY OF INFERENTIAL KNOWLEDGE * Berkeley s immaterial hypothesis has spawned a broad spectrum of diverging interpretations, ranging from the notion that the

More information

Intro to Philosophy. Review for Exam 2

Intro to Philosophy. Review for Exam 2 Intro to Philosophy Review for Exam 2 Epistemology Theory of Knowledge What is knowledge? What is the structure of knowledge? What particular things can I know? What particular things do I know? Do I know

More information

out in his Three Dialogues and Principles of Human Knowledge, gives an argument specifically

out in his Three Dialogues and Principles of Human Knowledge, gives an argument specifically That Thing-I-Know-Not-What by [Perm #7903685] The philosopher George Berkeley, in part of his general thesis against materialism as laid out in his Three Dialogues and Principles of Human Knowledge, gives

More information

Atheism, the Offspring of Deism in Berkeley. philosophical system in order to prevent the advancements of Atheism and undercut Materialism.

Atheism, the Offspring of Deism in Berkeley. philosophical system in order to prevent the advancements of Atheism and undercut Materialism. Sr. Mary Mother of the Church Miller Thomistic Studies 6 March 2018 Atheism, the Offspring of Deism in Berkeley George Berkeley, an eighteenth century philosopher and Protestant bishop, built his philosophical

More information

Introduction to Philosophy. Instructor: Jason Sheley

Introduction to Philosophy. Instructor: Jason Sheley Introduction to Philosophy Instructor: Jason Sheley Classics and Depth Before we get going today, try out this question: What makes something a classic text? (whether it s a work of fiction, poetry, philosophy,

More information

APPEARANCE AND REALITY

APPEARANCE AND REALITY Bertrand Russell, Problems of Philosophy CHAPTER I APPEARANCE AND REALITY IS there any knowledge in the world which is so certain that no reasonable man could doubt it? This question, which at first sight

More information

Thomas Reid on personal identity

Thomas Reid on personal identity Thomas Reid on personal identity phil 20208 Jeff Speaks October 5, 2006 1 Identity and personal identity............................ 1 1.1 The conviction of personal identity..................... 1 1.2

More information

Aspects of Western Philosophy Dr. Sreekumar Nellickappilly Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Aspects of Western Philosophy Dr. Sreekumar Nellickappilly Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Aspects of Western Philosophy Dr. Sreekumar Nellickappilly Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Module - 21 Lecture - 21 Kant Forms of sensibility Categories

More information

1/8. Reid on Common Sense

1/8. Reid on Common Sense 1/8 Reid on Common Sense Thomas Reid s work An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense is self-consciously written in opposition to a lot of the principles that animated early modern

More information

Every simple idea has a simple impression, which resembles it; and every simple impression a correspondent idea

Every simple idea has a simple impression, which resembles it; and every simple impression a correspondent idea 'Every simple idea has a simple impression, which resembles it; and every simple impression a correspondent idea' (Treatise, Book I, Part I, Section I). What defence does Hume give of this principle and

More information

John Locke No innate ideas or innate knowledge

John Locke No innate ideas or innate knowledge John Locke 1632-1704 No innate ideas or innate knowledge Locke: read and enjoyed Descartes (though he had many disagreements with him). Worked as a doctor (physician), and a government official. Wrote

More information

Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy. Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2014

Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy. Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2014 Philosophy 203 History of Modern Western Philosophy Russell Marcus Hamilton College Spring 2014 Class #23 Hume on the Self and Free Will Marcus, Modern Philosophy, Slide 1 Mindreading Video Marcus, Modern

More information

Early Russell on Philosophical Grammar

Early Russell on Philosophical Grammar Early Russell on Philosophical Grammar G. J. Mattey Fall, 2005 / Philosophy 156 Philosophical Grammar The study of grammar, in my opinion, is capable of throwing far more light on philosophical questions

More information

Of Probability; and of the Idea of Cause and Effect. by David Hume ( )

Of Probability; and of the Idea of Cause and Effect. by David Hume ( ) Of Probability; and of the Idea of Cause and Effect by David Hume (1711 1776) This is all I think necessary to observe concerning those four relations, which are the foundation of science; but as to the

More information

Philosophy of Religion: Hume on Natural Religion. Phil 255 Dr Christian Coseru Wednesday, April 12

Philosophy of Religion: Hume on Natural Religion. Phil 255 Dr Christian Coseru Wednesday, April 12 Philosophy of Religion: Hume on Natural Religion Phil 255 Dr Christian Coseru Wednesday, April 12 David Hume (1711-1776) Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural

More information

John Locke August 1, 2005 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

John Locke August 1, 2005 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy John Locke August 1, 2005 The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy http://www.iep.utm.edu/l/locke.htm#primary%20and%20secondary%20qualities Plan of the Essay Locke's greatest philosophical contribution

More information

PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 7 : E P I S T E M O L O G Y - K A N T

PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 7 : E P I S T E M O L O G Y - K A N T PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 7 : E P I S T E M O L O G Y - K A N T AGENDA 1. Review of Epistemology 2. Kant Kant s Compromise Kant s Copernican Revolution 3. The Nature of Truth REVIEW: THREE

More information

The Principles of Human Knowledge

The Principles of Human Knowledge The Principles of Human Knowledge George Berkeley Copyright Jonathan Bennett 2017. All rights reserved [Brackets] enclose editorial explanations. Small dots enclose material that has been added, but can

More information

Lecture 25 Hume on Causation

Lecture 25 Hume on Causation Lecture 25 Hume on Causation Patrick Maher Scientific Thought II Spring 2010 Ideas and impressions Hume s terminology Ideas: Concepts. Impressions: Perceptions; they are of two kinds. Sensations: Perceptions

More information

1/9. The Second Analogy (1)

1/9. The Second Analogy (1) 1/9 The Second Analogy (1) This week we are turning to one of the most famous, if also longest, arguments in the Critique. This argument is both sufficiently and the interpretation of it sufficiently disputed

More information

Aspects of Western Philosophy Dr. Sreekumar Nellickappilly Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

Aspects of Western Philosophy Dr. Sreekumar Nellickappilly Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Aspects of Western Philosophy Dr. Sreekumar Nellickappilly Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Indian Institute of Technology, Madras Module - 14 Lecture - 14 John Locke The empiricism of John

More information

1/12. The A Paralogisms

1/12. The A Paralogisms 1/12 The A Paralogisms The character of the Paralogisms is described early in the chapter. Kant describes them as being syllogisms which contain no empirical premises and states that in them we conclude

More information

A. Aristotle D. Descartes B. Plato E. Hume

A. Aristotle D. Descartes B. Plato E. Hume A. Aristotle D. Kant B. Plato E. Mill C. Confucius 1....pleasure, and freedom from pain, are the only things desirable as ends. 2. Courage is not only the knowledge of the hopeful and the fearful, but

More information

Think by Simon Blackburn. Chapter 7b The World

Think by Simon Blackburn. Chapter 7b The World Think by Simon Blackburn Chapter 7b The World Kant s metaphysics rested on identifying a kind of truth that Hume and other did not acknowledge. It is called A. synthetic a priori B. analytic a priori C.

More information

Fundamentals of Metaphysics

Fundamentals of Metaphysics Fundamentals of Metaphysics Objective and Subjective One important component of the Common Western Metaphysic is the thesis that there is such a thing as objective truth. each of our beliefs and assertions

More information

PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 3 : N A T U R E O F R E A L I T Y

PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 3 : N A T U R E O F R E A L I T Y PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 3 : N A T U R E O F R E A L I T Y AGENDA 1. Review of Personal Identity 2. The Stuff of Reality 3. Materialistic/Physicalism 4. Immaterial/Idealism PERSONAL IDENTITY

More information

PHILOSOPHY IAS MAINS: QUESTIONS TREND ANALYSIS

PHILOSOPHY IAS MAINS: QUESTIONS TREND ANALYSIS VISION IAS www.visionias.wordpress.com www.visionias.cfsites.org www.visioniasonline.com Under the Guidance of Ajay Kumar Singh ( B.Tech. IIT Roorkee, Director & Founder : Vision IAS ) PHILOSOPHY IAS MAINS:

More information

David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature ( ), Book I, Part III.

David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature ( ), Book I, Part III. David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature (1739 1740), Book I, Part III. N.B. This text is my selection from Jonathan Bennett s paraphrase of Hume s text. The full Bennett text is available at http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/.

More information

Abstraction for Empiricists. Anti-Abstraction. Plato s Theory of Forms. Equality and Abstraction. Up Next

Abstraction for Empiricists. Anti-Abstraction. Plato s Theory of Forms. Equality and Abstraction. Up Next References 1 2 What the forms explain Properties of the forms 3 References Conor Mayo-Wilson University of Washington Phil. 373 January 26th, 2015 1 / 30 References Abstraction for Empiricists 2 / 30 References

More information

Treatise I,iii,14: Hume offers an account of all five causes: matter, form, efficient, exemplary, and final cause.

Treatise I,iii,14: Hume offers an account of all five causes: matter, form, efficient, exemplary, and final cause. HUME Treatise I,iii,14: Hume offers an account of all five causes: matter, form, efficient, exemplary, and final cause. Beauchamp / Rosenberg, Hume and the Problem of Causation, start with: David Hume

More information

Think by Simon Blackburn. Chapter 7c The World

Think by Simon Blackburn. Chapter 7c The World Think by Simon Blackburn Chapter 7c The World Idealism Despite the power of Berkeley s critique, his resulting metaphysical view is highly problematic. Essentially, Berkeley concludes that there is no

More information

Kant s Copernican Revolution

Kant s Copernican Revolution Kant s Copernican Revolution While the thoughts are still fresh in my mind, let me try to pick up from where we left off in class today, and say a little bit more about Kant s claim that reason has insight

More information

Hume s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding

Hume s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding Hume s An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding G. J. Mattey Spring, 2017 / Philosophy 1 After Descartes The greatest success of the philosophy of Descartes was that it helped pave the way for the mathematical

More information

Kant, Hume, and the Notion of Material Substance

Kant, Hume, and the Notion of Material Substance Kant, Hume, and the Notion of Material Substance By Cameron David Brewer B.A., Ursinus College, 2002 M.A., University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago 2006 THESIS Submitted as partial fulfillment of the

More information

First Principles. Principles of Reality. Undeniability.

First Principles. Principles of Reality. Undeniability. First Principles. First principles are the foundation of knowledge. Without them nothing could be known (see FOUNDATIONALISM). Even coherentism uses the first principle of noncontradiction to test the

More information

The Empirical Skepticism of David Hume. Dustin M. Sigsbee

The Empirical Skepticism of David Hume. Dustin M. Sigsbee The Empirical Skepticism of David Hume Dustin M. Sigsbee In this paper I will be discussing Hume s theory of perception as found in A Treatise of Human Nature. I will be advocating for a very specific

More information

1/10. The Fourth Paralogism and the Refutation of Idealism

1/10. The Fourth Paralogism and the Refutation of Idealism 1/10 The Fourth Paralogism and the Refutation of Idealism The Fourth Paralogism is quite different from the three that preceded it because, although it is treated as a part of rational psychology, it main

More information

Of Identity and Diversity *

Of Identity and Diversity * Of Identity and Diversity * John Locke 9. Personal Identity [T]o find wherein personal identity consists, we must consider what person stands for;- which, I think, is a thinking intelligent being, that

More information

Thomas Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764)

Thomas Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764) 7 Thomas Reid, An Inquiry into the Human Mind on the Principles of Common Sense (1764) It is fair to say that Thomas Reid's philosophy took its starting point from that of David Hume, whom he knew and

More information

The CopernicanRevolution

The CopernicanRevolution Immanuel Kant: The Copernican Revolution The CopernicanRevolution Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) The Critique of Pure Reason (1781) is Kant s best known work. In this monumental work, he begins a Copernican-like

More information

Russell s Problems of Philosophy

Russell s Problems of Philosophy Russell s Problems of Philosophy IT S (NOT) ALL IN YOUR HEAD J a n u a r y 1 9 Today : 1. Review Existence & Nature of Matter 2. Russell s case against Idealism 3. Next Lecture 2.0 Review Existence & Nature

More information

History of Modern Philosophy Fall nd Paper Assignment Due: 11/8/2019

History of Modern Philosophy Fall nd Paper Assignment Due: 11/8/2019 History of Modern Philosophy Fall 2019 2 nd Paper Assignment Due: 11/8/2019 Papers should be approximately 3-5 pages in length, and are due via email on Friday, November 8. Please send your papers in Word,

More information

1/10. Descartes Laws of Nature

1/10. Descartes Laws of Nature 1/10 Descartes Laws of Nature Having traced some of the essential elements of his view of knowledge in the first part of the Principles of Philosophy Descartes turns, in the second part, to a discussion

More information

Philosophy Quiz 12 The Age of Descartes

Philosophy Quiz 12 The Age of Descartes Philosophy Quiz 12 The Age of Descartes Name (in Romaji): Student Number: Grade: / 8 (12.1) What is dualism? [A] The metaphysical view that reality ultimately consists of two kinds of things, basically,

More information

By submitting this essay, I attest that it is my own work, completed in accordance with University regulations. Minh Alexander Nguyen

By submitting this essay, I attest that it is my own work, completed in accordance with University regulations. Minh Alexander Nguyen DRST 004: Directed Studies Philosophy Professor Matthew Noah Smith By submitting this essay, I attest that it is my own work, completed in accordance with University regulations. Minh Alexander Nguyen

More information

PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 7 : E P I S T E M O L O G Y - K A N T

PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 7 : E P I S T E M O L O G Y - K A N T PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE & REALITY W E E K 7 : E P I S T E M O L O G Y - K A N T AGENDA 1. Review of Epistemology 2. Kant Kant s Compromise Kant s Copernican Revolution 3. The Nature of Truth KNOWLEDGE:

More information