Take-Home Final Exam Questions Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Take-Home Final Exam Questions - Assignment Example All that we ever see are the qualities of an object that our faculty of vision is capable of sensing. Hence, it implies that any given thing is a mere bundle of perceptions or the summation of its perceived qualities. There is nothing out there that we do not have some perception of. Furthermore, since things like ‘substance’ or ‘matter’ is never perceived or sensed, it cannot be said to exist. And if ‘substance’ does not exist and only sensed qualities are real or all are sensations, then only thinking or as Berkeley says, spiritual or mental beings exist, for according to him, it is impossible ever to think of anything except as related to a mind. 3. Why does Berkeley believe it must be God (rather than material substance) that is the cause of our perceptions? Since any given thing is a mere bundle of perceptions, we know that physical objects exist since we can perceive its qualities. However, this raises a problem when it comes to things tha t we do not perceive. How then do we justify the things that do exist yet are not being perceived by us? Berkeley says then that there are other finite minds, and are therefore perceiving those other things that exist, but apart from my finite mind or that of other finite minds, there must be something or someone who is responsible for guaranteeing order in our sensations and perceptions. Moreover, something cannot come from nothing; hence our finite minds must have originated from a creator. And since all human beings are always preoccupied from things, there is then an omnipresent mind, which knows and perceives all things. The existence of material objects therefore depends on the existence of God, for God is the cause of the order found in nature and is the cause of the existence of our minds. These ideas, which exist in our minds yet do not perceive, are God’s ideas, which He communicates to us; so that what we perceive through sensation are not to be caused by material substances, but rather, by God. Hence, God constantly gives us sensations in our everyday life. He gives us certain ideas, which help us categorize in an orderly manner all our sensations. Therefore, the continued existence of objects when we do not perceive them is explained by God’s continuous perception of them. 4. Why does Hume believe that causation is not a necessary connection between events, but only an observation of constant conjunction? Hume dismisses the idea of â€Å"necessary connection† because first, each impression is a ‘separate experience’, and second, what happens in the past may not ‘necessarily’ happen in the future. And in his dismissal of ‘necessary connection’, it implies that ‘causation’ only happens in the mind and is only due to constant conjunction; meaning we experience a series of events which happen in succession. So, if the idea of necessary connection is seen in our connecting of idea s, then ‘causality’ then occurs only within our minds; it is no other than a psychological law of association of ideas, a mere â€Å"habit of the mind†. 7. Why does Kant believe that the existence of synthetic a priori truths is such a big deal? Synthetic a priori truths already contain its predicate in its subject, but are not dependent on experience and are affirmed to be universal truths. By Kant’s analysis and presentation of â€Å"synthetic a priori† truths, it enabled him to justify mathematical and scientific principles, which can give us knowledge with certainty, and thereby further extending our knowledge of the world. For example, the mathematical proposition, (1 + 2 = 3); this is classified as synthetic a priori: â€Å"synthetic† because â€Å"1†, â€Å"+†, and â€Å"2† does not contain the idea of â€Å"