Can we prove the existence of god with empiricism? Berkeley answers "yes" to this question.
(1685–1735) Irish philosopher. He argued that consistent empiricism would lead to immaterialism and overthrow atheism. He was born in Kilkenny to an English family settled in Ireland. He died in Oxford. At the age of 15, he entered Trinity College, Dublin. Seven years later he became a lecturer there. In 1709, at the age of 24, he published his first major book: An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision. The following year, his masterpiece of philosophy, A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, was published. He gained great fame with them.
He went to London in 1713. He had his last important philosophy book, “Dialoglar”, published there. He made all his contributions to philosophy before the age of 30 and did not deal with this subject again in the later part of his life. When he lost the second volume of his masterpiece on a trip to Europe in 1716, without being able to publish it, he did not even think of rewriting it.
It is said that he died in a philosophical discussion during these years in London, during his European tours with Addison, Pope, Swift, and Steele at intervals between 1713 and 1720.
He left his post at Trinity College in 1724. He went to London and started raising money to set up a school in Bermuda. Two years later, the parliament decided that the state should also contribute financially to this project. He married in 1728 and went to America. He carried out the preparations for the Bermuda project in Rhode Island. When the money he expected from the state did not come, he had to return to England. He became the bishop of Cloyne in Ireland in 1734.
There are other books and articles in print that are not as valuable as his masterpieces.
The immaterialism (immaterialism) put forward by Berkeley is a subjective approach. This is a feature of the Modern Age in which it was produced. The term "idealism", which began to be used in the 18th century, has also gained ground by showing Berkeley's philosophy as an example. Three different sources of influence can be cited that led Berkeley to his original philosophy. The first and most important of these is the empiricism and realistic perception theory that coexist in Locke. Berkeley adopted Locke's empiricism and criticized European rationalism (rationalism) in this respect. On the other hand, he saw the incompatibility of this empiricism with the realistic perception theory and used this fact to deny materialism.
The second source of influence on Berkeley is skepticism. Instead of empiricism, he used the skeptical arguments he found in Descartes and Bayle against Locke's realism, and took care to establish his immaterialist empiricism in a way that would not be affected by them. The third source of influence is Malebranche, from whom he tended to give the concept of God the most important function in philosophy.
Being is a perception for Berkeley. There are two ways to exist: either by being perceived or by perceiving. A perceived entity would require a perceiving entity to exist, and a perceiving entity would require perceived entities to exist. Perceived entities are "sensible objects and qualities", that is, "ideas". These are passive. Perceiving entities are active. Such is the mind or spirit. Their effectiveness is with the faculties of perception and will. Thus, only ideas and the spirits that perceive them can exist. Spirits cannot be perceived because they are not passive. Since they cannot be perceived, they cannot be known directly by experiment. The only way to know spirits is to perceive the result of their activities. That is why we have no ideas of the spirits or minds of others. We recognize other minds by the actions they cause in their bodies, and by the words they say.
According to Berkeley, it is clear that the existence of an object means that it is perceived.
But the vast majority of ideas come to us against our will. Their order and consistency are also beyond our will. According to Berkeley, this only proves the existence of God. As an active spirit, God reveals these effects on us with this regularity. Consistency and regularity of perception show the greatness of God.
This is the primary way of knowing God's existence.