Berkeley, George
"Three Dialogues Between Hylas And Philonous"
. How then is it possible that things perpetually
fleeting and variable as our ideas should be copies or images of
anything fixed and constant? Or, in other words, since all
sensible {206} qualities, as size, figure, colour, &c., that is,
our ideas, are continually changing, upon every alteration in the
distance, medium, or instruments of sensation; how can any
determinate material objects be properly represented or painted
forth by several distinct things, each of which is so different
from and unlike the rest? Or, if you say it resembles some one
only of our ideas, how shall we be able to distinguish the true
copy from all the false ones?
. I profess, Philonous, I am at a loss. I know not what
to say to this.
. But neither is this all. Which are material objects
in themselves -- perceptible or imperceptible?
. Properly and immediately nothing can be perceived but
ideas. All material things, therefore, are in themselves
insensible, and to be perceived only by our ideas.
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