Berkely. Info in description - Essay Example

It is derived from two Greek words, phil and nous, which when translated to English means Lover of Mind. In this dialogue, Berkley, through Philonous, brings forth a strong argument against the theory of materialism and argues out his points in a way that shows how strongly he believes in immaterialism. According to Philonous, immaterialism proves and brings forth the erroneous nature of skepticism. This paper will be assessing the arguments that have been developed to oppose materialism and those that have been brought forth to support the theory of immaterialism and how it refutes skepticism.

The paper will be assessing how successful the arguments that Berkley presents are in convincing the reader and the reasons for their success or failure. This dialogue is in three parts. In the first part of the dialogue, Hylas expresses his utter disdain of skepticism and points out to the opinion that he has heard Philonous to hold that there is no such thing as material substance in the world; a skeptical opinion. However, according to Philonous, it is Hylas who is skeptical and he seeks to prove that to him.

The two therefore begin to engage in a philosophical battle of wits. Philonous begins by questioning Hylas on heat as a secondary quality. He questions Hylas of how one can be able to experience pain or pleasure through heat if it is not perceived in the mind. Philonous gives a hypothetical situation to Hylas of putting his hand near a fire. According to Hylas, there is only one sensation that one can feel when they do this. But Philonous proves that to be contrary to reality. When the hand is put near the fire, there are two sensations that are perceived or experienced at the same time; pain, and heat.

Through this argument, Philonous is able to convince Hylas that a particular sensation cannot exist in reality if it is not perceived by the mind. He also manages to convince him that heat and such sensations are not a real being. They are only existent if they are perceived by the mind. Philonous then proceeds to argue out about sound. Hylas believes that sound is a sensation that is created as a result of movement in the air particles. However, Philonousgoes ahead and shutters Hylas’ philosophical standing because no sensation can exist outside the mind.

The mind is what enables a sensation to exist. Hylas eventually agrees that sound can have no real being without the mind, just like the sensation of heat.The next argument that Philonous presents is about colors. Hylas, in his philosophical stand believes that everything that is visible to the human eye has color that is present in it. This argument then develops to one that is based on the sense of sight. At the end of it all, Philonous gets to convince Hylas that color exists as a perception of what we see.

This is because when an object is illuminated under different kinds of light, the color appearance seems to change. Therefore, the color of any object is not definite and it is determined by one’s perception of sight. The argument on things as perceived by sight still continues beyond this point. The two argue about the size and extension. Philonous argues that everything in this world that has the privilege of sight, be it an animal, ant, or any other creature, perceives the sizes of things according to their sight.

Philonous gives an example of a mite. A mite at its size is supposed to be able to see its own foot and things that are equal in size or lesser to it as bodies of some considerable dimension. However,