george berkeley vs john locke?

Question

george berkeley vs john locke?

Answer 1

John Locke won by a technical ruling.

Answer 2

John Locke is a philosophic realist— in oversimplified terms, external reality is antecedent to mental perception of reality; the mind is originally a tabula rasa (a blank sheet) and reality imprints itself in the mind through experience.

George Berkeley is a phlosophic realism — mind is necessary for reality. Does reality exist in the absence of someone with senses and a mind to experience it, or at least,m to sense it? Does a flower exist in a forest (or the forest itself exist) if no one is therre to see or smell it?

In these oversimplified terms, Berkeley has often been the butt of philosophical jokes. Examples: Samuel Johnson, who lived in the same period, said that he didn't know about flowers, but by George, if Berkeley stubbed his toe on a rock he'd bloody well know that in fact the rock existed (Johnson liked to jest, and it might have escaped him that in a sense he proved Berkeley's proposition: you know something exists if you are there to experience it). The 20th century Catholic theologian, Reginald Knox, wrote a witty poem that pointed out to Berkeley (who was also religious, both professionally — he was an Antlican Bishop — and personally) that of course God was always there to see the rose.

Answer 3

I find Berkeley more plausible, since Locke is unable to explain why the primary qualities are necessary or how they interact with the secondary qualities that we perceive.

Answer 4

John Locke in the 5th round. TKO.