The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4: Philosophical Works, 1705-21Berkeley, George
Philosophy
The Works of George Berkeley. Vol. 1 of 4: Philosophical Works, 1705-21
Berkeley, George
Philosophy -- Early works to 1800
102. To which I answer, the ideas which constitute the tangible earth and
man are entirely different from those which constitute the visible earth
and man. Nor was it possible, by virtue of the visive faculty alone,
without superadding any experience of touch, or altering the position of
the eye, ever to have known, or so much as suspected, there had been any
relation or connexion between them. Hence, a man at first view would not
denominate anything he saw, _earth_, or _head_, or _foot_; and
consequently, he could not tell, by the mere act of vision, whether the
head or feet were nearest the earth. Nor, indeed, would we have thereby
any thought of earth or man, erect or inverse, at all—which will be made
yet more evident, if we nicely observe, and make a particular comparison
between, the ideas of both senses.
103. That which I see is only variety of light and colours. That which I
feel is hard or soft, hot or cold, rough or smooth. What similitude, what
connexion, have those ideas with these? Or, how is it possible that any
one should see reason to give one and the same name(393) to combinations
of ideas so very different, before he had experienced their co-existence?
We do not find there is any necessary connexion betwixt this or that
tangible quality, and any colour whatsoever. And we may sometimes perceive
colours, where there is nothing to be felt. All which doth make it
manifest that no man, at first receiving of his sight(394), would know
there was any agreement between this or that particular object of his
sight and any object of touch he had been already acquainted with. The
colours therefore of the head would to him no more suggest the idea of
head(395) than they would the idea of feet.
104. Farther, we have at large shewn (vid. sect. 63 and 64) there is no
discoverable necessary connexion between any given visible magnitude and
any one particular tangible magnitude; but that it is entirely the result
of custom and experience, and depends on foreign and accidental
circumstances, that we can, by the perception of visible extension, inform
ourselves what may be the extension of any tangible object connected with
it. Hence, it is certain, that neither the visible magnitude of head or
foot would bring along with them into the mind, at first opening of the
eyes, the respective tangible magnitudes of those parts.
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