Locke, from looking at it first glance.

Locke, despite strongly disagreeing with the idea of innateness, he does sympathise with Descartes idea (who was an innate believer himself) that our senses may well be useless and that the reality we live in may not be true. He does however still grant them as important. Locke therefore created two further qualities, primary and secondary qualities. Primary qualities are the physical characteristics an object owns. These being the weight, density and height of an object. They are all characteristics that belong to the object itself.

These are objective and cannot be change or perceived differently to other people. However, there are things on the object that are subjective, such as the colour and texture. They are observed by our senses but subjective. It is possible to debate the colour of an object as it could be perceived different to each person but height and weight of an object would be fact as it is an objective truth.

Berkeley disagreed with this and used Locke’s own logic against him. Berkeley took apart Locke’s theory to the point in which he started questioning if anything actually existed at all. Berkeley believed that one wouldn’t look at an object and perceive some qualities whilst completely forgetting the others.

For example, one wouldn’t see a blue box per say and know its weight but not its colour. One can work this out from looking at it first glance. Berkeley claimed in his theory of abstract ideas that “it is not within my power to frame an idea of a body extended and moved, but I must withal give it some colour or other sensible quality which is acknowledged to exist only in the mind”(PHK page 14 point 10). He thus believed it was impossible to realise primary qualities without realising the secondary ones too. The sensible qualities of the object must exist in the mind as well. He believed the extension (primary qualities) existed in the mind as well as the secondary ones. Berkeley believed that if one removed the secondary qualities to get to the primary ones, your object would cease to exist. The primary colours can’t be true however as they are what the mind makes it.

He believes that it’s all perceptions. Berkeley took a liking to Descartes recognised ‘I think therefore I am’ quote and made his own, ‘esse set percepi’ which stands for to be is to be perceived. We as people are just perceiving what we see in front of us. It may not be true. The idea of the perceiver infers that we are all just minds/souls in tricked world.