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A Response To Philonous Argument For The Existence Of God

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A Response to Philonous’s Argument for the Existence of God
In the book “Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous” (1713) George Berkeley uses the dialogue between fictional characters Philonous and Hylas to articulate his argument against atheism. He begins this argument by asserting that his view on idealism—which asserts that reality exists solely in the mind and its ideas— “is enough to overthrow the whole system of atheism” (30). While denying atheism, Berkeley simultaneously makes an argument in favor of the existence of God. In the second dialogue, Berkeley establishes three premises that lead to the conclusion that there is an infinite mind, or God. In this paper, I will critically analyze Philonous’s argument for the existence of …show more content…

The argument can be best understood in three premises and a conclusion. The first and second premise are abstracted from “It is evident that the things I perceive are my own ideas, and that no idea can exist except in a mind” (31). Here two claims are being made conjunctively to posit (1) sensible things exist and (2) sensible things are mind dependent. Alone, these two premises assert that sensible things would not exist without a mind to be perceived in. These premises are not sufficient conditions because the truth of them does not guarantee the truth of the conclusion, instead, they are necessary conditions because they are required to be true for the conclusion to be true. Because neither of these premises guarantee the conclusion, a third premise is established to explain why an infinite mind would be …show more content…

He concludes matter is capable of producing ideas by the action proper to matter, which is motion (33). Philonous rejects Hylas’s potential argument because he posits that sensible qualities are passive and inert; motion is a sensible quality and therefore is not an action. Hylas fails at refuting Philonous’s argument because he had already conceded that sensible qualities—or ideas—exist solely in the mind. Instead, Hylas should have pointed out the inherent flaw in Philonous’s logical reasoning for his

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