Do Arguments from Empiricism support Berkeley's Idealism as a Theory of Perception?

Arguments from Empiricism do support Berkeley’s Idealism as a theory of perception. This is because Berkeley’s Idealism is in itself an argument from Empiricism. To understand this it is important to see Berkeley developed Idealism specifically as a response to Locke’s Indirect Realism, which he believed did not adequately explain how we gain knowledge of the world through perception. This he does by taking empiricism to its logical conclusion: that the immediate objects of perception (such as trees and grass) are mind-dependent objects. This is the definition of Idealism. Empiricism is the view that knowledge is gained through the experiences of sense-perception. A theory of perception is an explanation of how we gain knowledge of the world through perception. Indirect Realism is the theory of perception that states that the immediate objects of perception are mind-dependent, but that they resemble or represent real objects in the world. Berkeley’s attack on Locke’s ‘primary and secondary qualities’ distinction in particular demonstrates how arguments from Empiricism support his Idealism. A primary quality is one that exists independently of sense-perception of it, such as shape, quantity and extension or the space the object takes up. A secondary quality may best be described as a power within an object to bring a certain sensation when perceived. One can imagine shape without colour, but not colour without shape, therefore the secondary qualities follow primary qualities, which are essential to an object. Berkeley challenges this by asking how we can know these primary qualities exist independent of perception since we have no way of showing that. The Indirect Realist seems to appeal to experience to draw this distinction, but in doing so create the nonsense proposition that’ our empirical knowledge of the world is founded on that which we cannot experience.’ The real objects on which our mind-dependent objects of perception are based can never be experienced directly. Idealism on the other hand argues that the mind-depended immediate objects of perception are the objects of perception. It is supported by arguments from empiricism because it is purely empirical: that which we experience, is what we experience. This question needs a further paragraph and a conclusion but I did not want to exceed the one to two paragraph specification.

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