As man progressed through the various stages of evolution, it is.
assumed that at a certain point he began to ponder the world around him. Of.
course, these first attempts fell short of being scholarly, probably.
consisting of a few grunts and snorts at best. As time passed on, though,.
these ideas persisted and were eventually tackled by the more intellectual,.
so-called philosophers. Thus, excavation of "the external world" began. As.
the authoritarinism of the ancients gave way to the more liberal views of.
the modernists, two main positions concerning epistemology and the nature.
of the world arose. The first view was exemplified by the empiricists, who.
stated that all knowledge comes from the senses. In opposition, the.
rationalists maintained that knowledge comes purely from deduction, and.
that this knowledge is processed by certain innate schema in the mind.
Those that belonged to the empiricist school of thought developed quite.
separate and distinct ideas concerning the nature of the substratum of.
sensible objects. John Locke and David Hume upheld the belief that.
sensible things were composed of material substance, the basic framework.
for the materialist position. The main figure who believed that material.
substance did not exist is George Berkeley. In truth, it is the.
immaterialist position that seems the most logical when placed under close.
scrutiny.
The initial groundwork for Berkeley's position is the truism 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.
