Descartes was probably
the first to attain the degree of reflection demanded
by that fundamental truth; consequently, he made
that truth the starting-point of his philosophy, although
provisionally only in the form of sceptical
doubt. By his taking cogito ergo sum as the only thing
certain, and provisionally regarding the existence of
the world as problematical, the essential and only
correct starting-point, and at the same time the true
point of support, of all philosophy was really found.
This point, indeed, is essentially and of necessity the
subjective, our own consciousness. For this alone is
and remains that which is immediate; everything
else, be it what it may, is first mediated and conditioned
by consciousness, and therefore dependent
on it. It is thus rightly considered that the philosophy
of the moderns starts from Descartes as its
father. Not long afterwards, Berkeley went farther
along this path, and arrived at idealism proper; in
other words, at the knowledge that what is extended
in space, and hence the objective, material world in
general, exists as such simply and solely in our
representation, and that it is false and indeed absurd
to attribute to it, as such, an existence outside all
representation and independent of the knowing
subject, and so to assume a matter positively and
absolutely existing in itself. But this very correct
and deep insight really constitutes the whole of
Berkeley’s philosophy; in it he had exhausted
2007-04-12
16:35:35
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14 answers
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asked by
lipglossaddiction
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Philosophy