Research papper Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Papper - Research Paper Example Furthermore, it also promotes atheism because in a material world, individuals might be expected to exist without God’s existence (Olscamp 111). However, Berkeley’s main charge against the current philosophical tradition was that philosophers were guilty of complicating knowledge by introducing unnecessary abstractions. It is in this regard that the main focus of this research paper is to defend philosophy against the said charge by stating a position of endorsement and by showing the metaphysical and epistemological issues involved, that is to say, whether abstractions are epistemologically necessary, and whether Berkeley’s metaphysical charges were correct. To start with, the metaphysical and epistemological issues involved in Berkeley’s charge, as opposed to his materialist predecessors, aims to defend idealism and immaterialism. As result, Berkeley argues that no material thing exists; he rejects that material things are mind-independent things or substances, as the rationalists would call it. Hence, he argues that materialism promotes cynicism and disbelief. For this reason, Berkeley presents arguments to prove that when people perceive ordinary objects, they only perceive the idea of those objects and therefore, ordinary objects are mere ideas. Thus, Berkeley defends two metaphysical theses: first, the idealism claiming that everything that exists either is a mind or depends on a mind for its existence (Olscamp 27), and second, the immaterialism which claims that matter does not exist. Herein, Berkeley argues against the common views, which suggest that sensible objects are mind-independent. Sensible objects are perceived by sense only sensations are perceived by sense and, therefore, sensible objects are sensations. Similarly, sensations are mind-independent. Therefore, sensible objects are likewise