Tolle Lege: An Augustinian Journal of Philosophy and Theology

This research examined immaterialism in George Berkeley’s epistemic principle – Esse Est Percipi (to be is to be perceived). He denied the autonomous existence of matter. And postulated that for a thing to exist, it must be perceived, and whatever is not perceived does not exist; hence for him, “to be is to be perceived.” Contrary to some scholars like Johnson who thought that Berkeley totally rejected the existence of matter, this research argued the theses that Berkeley, viewed from a certain angle of vision, only denied the existence of a kind of matter and not matter as such. This research finds out that Berkeley has been misinterpreted by many scholars for he did not deny the existence of matter in its entirety but rather, a kind of matter conceived as existing independent of the mind and responsible for the cause of other things. This research submits that Berkeley only transformed the materialist conception of matter, giving it a new identity and meaning. 

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