Idealism (Epistemology)

Question 1

Idealism Essay Plan

Answer 1

P1. Intent (for) Define Idealism (all that exists is the mind and it’s ideas)

P2.Strengths of Idealism; avoids scepticism.
P2.2 Objection: problem of solipsism (my mind is the only mind)

P3. Strengths of Idealism; proof and role of God as response to solipsism.
P3.2. Objection: problems with the role of God.
P3.3. Defence: Berkeley’s response.

P4. Strengths of Idealism; supported by everyday perception.
P4.2. Objection: problems of illusion and hallucination.
P4.3. Defence: Berkeley’s responses.

P5.The master argument.
P5.2. Objection: Russell’s critique.
P5.3 concept of a material substance is incoherent.

P6. Conclusion, Sustained intent (for)

Question 2

Strength of Idealism: Avoiding scepticism

Answer 2

Idealism avoids this problem by saying all that exists is the mind and it’s ideas.
Therefore, saying there is no external world and taking away the problem.

Question 3

Berkley’s Master Argument

Answer 3

Aims to show how the very idea of a mind-independent material object is contradictory.

P1. Try to conceive of a tree that exists independently of any mind.
P2. In doing so, the tree is being conceived by you.
C. Therefore the tree is in your mind and isn’t independent of any mind after all.

For Berkley, this shows how all objects can only be mind-dependant and exist in your mind.

Question 4

Role and proof of God (as another mind)

Answer 4

He disproves solipsism by identifying where our perceptions come from. He says there are 3 possible causes of perception:

1. Ideas themselves - This can’t be as ideas don’t cause anything
2. My mind - Nope, as then i would be able to control what i perceive, which i can’t as my perceptions are involuntary
3. Another (infinite) mind - Must be by elimination

He claims that there must be an infinite mind as that’s what sustains the existence of the world when i am not perceiving it.

For example, we know that when i am asleep or even blinking, as well as before i was born and after i die, the world continues to exist.

Berkeley therefore disproves solipsisim by showing that another (infinite) mind exists to sustain the existence of the world and cause our perceptions upon us.

Question 5

elle est percipi

Answer 5

to be is to be perceived

Question 6

Problems with the Role and proof of God as another mind

Answer 6

is to be is to be perceived, then we cannot argue that God exists as he has never been perceived.

Question 7

Problem of illusion and hallucination against idealism

Answer 7

The main part of the argument is that we can’t tell the difference between veridical and non-veridical perceptions, as if to be is to be perceived then hallucinations must be real, which they’re obviously not due to their incoherence.

For illusions, they are defined as misinterpretations of reality. Therefore, there must be a reality to misinterpret.

Question 8

Response to Problem of illusion and hallucination against idealism

Answer 8

We can tell the difference between the non-veridical and veridical perceptions as ideas are way more vivid than the imagination (illusions and hallucinations).

God puts our veridical perceptions (ideas) into our brain whereas our imagination creates our non-veridical perceptions.

Question 9

Russel’s Critique of The Master Argument

Answer 9

Russell says that Berkeley confuses a thought with what it’s about.

A thought a a psychological even that cannot exist out the mind. The conceiving of a tree is a thought, and so mind-dependent.

However, the tree itself (what the thought is about) is an object that exists out the mind (mind-independent).

Just because our thinking is mind-dependent, it does not follow what we are thinking about is also mind-dependent.

It is not a logical contradiction to think of a tree that exists when no one is perciveing it.