On Mon, 26 Feb 2001, Julia Thompson wrote:
>
> Berkley had some sort of proof for the existence of God, IIRC. Does
> anyone have all the salient details on that, and if so, could said person
> post them? Thanks.
>
Based on some really old memories, I think it goes something like this:
- What we perceive exists only in the mind as ideas and sensations.
- Objects could not induce such ideas and sensations unless they contained
those same ideas and sensations.
- In order to contain ideas and sensations, objects must also be
perceptions.
- Humans can't perceive everything at once, so there must be some Mind
which can.
- The only sort of Mind that could perceive everything at once must be
God. God creates and sustains the universe and us through an ongoing act
of universal perception or awareness.
- Thus, "To be is to be perceived."
But there might be a better explanation on a web page out there, and I'm
sure there are lots of better ones to be found in books.
Marvin Long
Austin, Texas
