Answer to Question #188410 in Philosophy for Sareen

Question

1. Discuss the illusion argument against common sense realism.
2. Why does Descartes employ Methodic doubt and how did he escape that doubt?
3. What are some of the main features of Empiricism?
4. How is Locke's Representative Realism different from common sense realism.
5. What is the purpose of Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities of an object?
6. On what basis Berkley rejected Locke’s distinction between primary and secondary qualities and what does he suggest?
7. Explain Berkely’s Subjective Idealism.
8. How is Berkley’s subjective idealism different from Plato’s Idealism.
9. Define idealism as a metaphysical world view.
10. Distinguish between Plato’s world of Being and the world of Becoming. Which one of these is the ultimate reality and why?
11. How can we access or understand real forms of things according to Plato?

Answer 1

An illusion argument is an argument generated by the mind when a person sees an object. For example, when a person sees an elephant, he considers it in mind and then forms a conversation about it. At the same time, common sense realism thinks about things even when they have not yet been seen.

 Descartes reached a point where he discovered knowledge of self exists in the 17th century. He, therefore, concluded that whatever I think, that is who I am.

Some features of empiricism are imaginative conjecture, authority, and abstract, theoretical, or systematic reasoning and intuition as sources of authentic belief. 

The difference between Locke's representative realism and common sense realism is that Locke's figurative realism believes that all ideas in mind are a representation of reality. In contrast, common sense realism believes that some pictures may not be reality but are perceived to exist.

Berkeley explains that some things happen according to God's will while others depend on finite human choice. Berkeley also explains that most of the things that exist were ideas contrary to the explanation given by Locke's who says that all things that exist are a reality, not thoughts.

 Berkeley's subjective idealism states that the world consists of two minds, the human mind and the mind of God.

Plato's idealism only considers the existence of God's idea, while Berkeley's idealism considers both God's vision and human thought.

Idealism is a system of thought that believes that occurrences and objects that exist are dependants on the mind.

Plato's world of being is a phenomenon where the world consists things which will never change while the world of becoming consist of things which are bound to change with time.

Since forms are a shadow of reality, Plato suggests that to access the fundamental forms; then we should focus on the actual objects.