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Why does Berkeley consider himself the defender of common sense? Do you agree with this self-assessment?

Date Submitted: 09/09/2006 23:13:25
Length: 2 pages (681 words)
Views: 23873

Because Berkeley's ideas are so unconventional, it is surprising that he claims that his ontology is actually a validation of common sense. The common sense view that Berkeley believes himself to be defending consists of the following interrelated ontological and epistemological claims: (1) We can trust our senses. (2) The things we see and feel are real. (3) The qualities we perceive as existing really do exist. (4) All skeptical doubt about the real existence of things is, therefore, …

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…sees and feels are real, whether the qualities one thinks exist do in fact exist, or whether one has certain knowledge about the real existence of things. Both the commonsensical ontology and Berkeley's ontology would render the so-called commonsensical propositions enumerated by Berkeley uninterestingly true. But since the underlying reason for these propositions are, in the two cases, so at variance, it hardly seems legitimate to claim that these two positions are at all similar.

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