To say that something exists means that it is perceived by some mind, whether it is the mind of a human being or of God. Since these ideas exist only when they are perceived, Berkeley argues, if the mind did not exist to perceive them, the objects-or ideas-would not exist either. The mind organizes these ideas in a familiar way and perceives something it recognizes. He asserts that first, human minds sense something-an object’s pleasant or unpleasant odor, its soft or prickly surface, its large or small size, and square or round shape. In his Treatise, Berkeley replaces the word “thing” with “idea” to be clear about the nature of its being. Empiricists believe that all knowledge comes through sensory experiences, and Berkeley takes this idea a step further to assert that when we perceive something, we are actually perceiving our own ideas about that thing. In Berkeley’s philosophy, a thing in the material world can never be understood in abstract terms because humans can only refer to their prior knowledge of the thing that they are perceiving.
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