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Words: | Submitted: Fri Mar 16 2007
... spiritual substance. This sets the stage for Berkeley's argument for the existence of God and the distinction between real things and imaginary things. Since the mind is passive in perception, there are ideas which one's own mind does not cause. Only a mind or spirit can be a cause. "There is therefore some other will or spirit that produces them" (PHK 29). As such, this is not an argument for the existence of God (see PHK146-149), although Berkeley's further discussion assumes that at least one mind is the divine mind. So, Berkeley has given an account of ordinary objects without matter. Ordinary objects are nothing but lawfully arranged collections of ideas of sense. Ordinary objects, as known, are nothing but collections of ideas. If, like Descartes, Berkeley holds that claims of existence are justified if the existent can be known, then ordinary objects must be at least collections of ideas. ...
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