that the materialist is a skeptic. In the writing of his three

dialogues, Berkeley develops two characters: Hylas (the materialist)

and Philonous (Berkeley himself). Philonous draws upon one central

supposition of the materialist to formulate his argument of skepticism

against him; this idea is that one can never perceive the real essence

of anything. In short, the materialist feels that the information

received through sense experience gives a representative picture of

the outside world (the representative theory of perception), and one

can not penetrate to the true essece of an object. This makes logical

sense, for the only way to perceive this real essence would be to

become the object itself! Although the idea is logical, it does

contain a certain grounding for agnosticism. Let the reader consider

this: if there is no way to actually sense the true material essence

of anything, and all knowledge in empiricism comes from the senses,

then the real material essence can not be perceived and therefore it

can not be posited. This deserves careful consideration, for the

nature.'4" It is important to stress the idea that God shows people

is when they are placed in the same mental picture. In summary, the

At this point Berkeley explains that the so-called tertiary

of God is always perceiving them. Unlike the materialists' view, the

disgussed, humans can perceive only one thought at a time. If the

reader will realize that it is an impossible task. This is because the

Some common words found in the essay are:
Berkeley Philonous, , Joel Feinberg, God God's, human mind, primary qualities, mind god, secondary qualities, infinite mind, god's mind, external object, mind infinite, exist mind, finite mind, primary secondary qualities, representative theory perception, real primary qualities, reader attempt imagine, perceive real essence,
Approximate Word count = 2215
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page double spaced)