work is the curse of the drinking classes

Saturday, February 27, 2010

philosophy homework

this is a lil bit of my philosophy mid term essay in reply to the question:
" What do you think george berkeley means by suggesting that the physical world is a collection of ideas within immaterial minds? could he be correct? how so, or why not?

here is a paragraph of my reply:


If Berkeley speculates correctly and our reality is shaped purely out of our collective minds, it will have to apply to how we relate to the other minds that we associate with. And if what we perceive of the mind next to us is just a perception of our mind and nothing more, then one can only conclude that the world as we know it depends on the individual alone and there is no such thing as “we”. Even if we carry perceptions that are identical to the other, it would not matter because the “other” is still our perception. Something we only know through our senses thus something we cannot place any trust in for sure. In essence, we are alone. To you, I do not really exist. To me, you do not exist. The at the furthest extremity of Berkeleys speculation, I am the only existence. Not my body, not my physical being, just the fact that I sense, just the fact that I can produce my ideas, is existing cause I cannot disprove myself, to myself, that I am nothing. It is a philosophical blackhole that consumes itself to the point where for all I know, I could be an insane singularity of existence and all that I know, all that I feel and am is just a figment of MY imagination. If that is true, I am God. You do not exist. This homework essay does not exist. And everything that happens against my will is only because my mind is bound by the chains of habit, repetition and adamant belief that there are consequences.

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