The Empiricism of George Berkeley George Berkeley (1685-1753) set out to correct what he thought were inconsistencies and errors in Locke’s philosophy, while remaining true to the basic platform of empiricism. Both philosophy of Rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz) and Empiricism (Locke) rely on a basic concept of the notion that there is an “substance” – underlying set of attributes of things that remain unchanging. Berkeley applied Razor” to the idea of material substance so “Ockham’s thoroughly that he disposed of it entirely. This left him with a type of subjective idealism, the view that only minds and ideas exist. Berkeley critiques Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities: Primary qualities (shape, extension, etc.) for Locke, are inherent in the material substance that constitutes external objects, independently of the mind. Secondary qualities (tastes, smells, colors) for Locke exist only in the mind. Berkeley pointed out that the ONLY access to the primary qualities of objects is through the secondary qualities. The only way to know size, shape, location or dimensionality of an object is by feeling it and seeing it through the secondary – qualities of tactile, visual or auditory sensation. Thus descriptions of qualities” are nothing more than interpretations of “primary qualities”. According to Berkeley, the mind performs a “secondary “translation” of secondary qualities into primary qualities. During this process we are working with perception ONLY. (To be is to be perceived). – To explain this of secondary into primary qualities, Berkeley draws a “translation” distinction between direct perception and indirect perception.
The Empiricism of George Berkeley George Berkeley (1685-1753) set out to correct what he thought were inconsistencies and errors in Locke’s philosophy, while remaining true to the basic platform of empiricism. Both philosophy of Rationalism (Descartes, Spinoza, Leibnitz) and Empiricism (Locke) rely on a basic concept of “substance” – the notion that there is an underlying set of attributes of things that remain unchanging. Berkeley applied “Ockham’s Razor” to the idea of material substance so thoroughly that he disposed of it entirely. This left him with a type of subjective idealism, the view that only minds and ideas exist. Berkeley critiques Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities: Primary qualities (shape, extension, etc.) for Locke, are inherent in the material substance that constitutes external objects, independently of the mind. Secondary qualities (tastes, smells, colors) for Locke exist only in the mind. Berkeley pointed out that the ONLY access to the primary qualities of objects is through the secondary qualities. The only way to know size, shape, location or dimensionality of an object is by feeling it and seeing it – through the secondary qualities of tactile, visual or auditory sensation. Thus descriptions of “primary qualities” are nothing more than interpretations of “secondary qualities”. According to Berkeley, the mind performs a “translation” of secondary qualities into primary qualities. During this process we are working with perception ONLY. – (To be is to be perceived). To explain this “translation” of secondary into primary qualities, Berkeley draws a distinction between direct perception and indirect perception.