
What if the world you see, hear, and touch isn’t real?
What if it’s just happening in your mind?
It’s a strange, almost disturbing concept.
Yet, this is exactly the kind of question that George Berkeley asked and attempted to answer.
And his response is as bold as it gets: all of reality exists in the mind.
Berkeley’s most famous idea can be summed up in a simple phrase: “To be is to be perceived.”
In his view, everything that exists—trees, mountains, even your favorite chair—exists only because it is being experienced by a mind.
This might sound weird, but think about it.
When you look at an apple, you see its redness, feel its smoothness, and maybe even imagine its crisp taste.
But what is the apple, really? For Berkeley, the apple is nothing more than this collection of perceptions.
If nobody perceives the apple, it doesn’t exist in any meaningful sense.
Berkeley didn’t think the apple disappeared when you stopped looking at it. Instead, he believed that God, the ultimate mind, perceives everything all the time, ensuring the continued existence of the world.

Berkeley’s Idealism vs. Plato
Berkeley wasn’t the first to question the nature of reality.
Plato argued that the world we see is just a shadow of a deeper, eternal reality he called Forms.
For example, every apple you see is just an imperfect reflection of the perfect “apple-ness” that exists in the realm of Forms.
Plato | Berkeley |
---|---|
Believed in a separate, eternal realm of Forms, beyond what we can perceive. | Believed reality exists in our perceptions and minds—no separate “world of Forms.” |
Forms are abstract and universal, like templates for everything in the world. | Everything is a bundle of perceptions that exists only in the mind. |
Reality is less “real” than the Forms that determine it. | The things you perceive are reality. There’s no hidden “stuff” behind them. |
Plato emphasized an invisible, ideal world beyond this one.
Berkeley’s vision was simpler—and closer to our everyday experience.
For him, reality wasn’t about some distant, unobservable Forms but about what we experience directly.

“To Be Is to Be Perceived” Explained Simply
Imagine you’re at the beach. You see the waves, feel the warm sand, and hear the cries of seagulls.
For Berkeley, the beach is essentially these perceptions. Its existence is tied to your experience of it.
Now, you might wonder, what happens when you leave the beach? Does it disappear? Berkeley would say no because God is always “watching,” keeping the beach in existence even when you’re gone.
This may sound unexpected, but it’s how Berkeley solved the puzzle of how the world remains consistent without relying on material objects.

Don Quixote: Living in a World Shaped by the Mind
A character who fits George Berkeley’s notions of reality being rooted in perception is Don Quixote.
His perceptions define his world, and what might seem delusional to others becomes undeniably real to him.
Don Quixote, an aging nobleman, reads so many books about chivalry that he starts to see himself as a knight-errant, destined to roam the land performing heroic deeds.
For him, reality transforms through his perception: windmills become fearsome giants, simple country inns turn into grand castles, and a humble peasant girl becomes the noble Lady Dulcinea.
One of the most famous scenes in the book involves Don Quixote charging at a windmill, convinced it is a giant.
He declares:
“Do you see over yonder, friend Sancho, thirty or forty hulking giants? I intend to do battle with them and slay them.”
Sancho, his skeptical companion, responds, trying to ground him in a more material view of reality:
“What giants? Those are only windmills. What you see are their sails, which, when they are whirled around by the wind, turn the millstone.”
But for Don Quixote, what he perceives as a giant is a giant. His reality is governed by his mind, much like Berkeley’s philosophy where objects exist as ideas perceived by someone.
While others might dismiss his visions as mere delusions, for Don Quixote, the world he perceives is as real as anything can be.
His conviction that his perceptions are truth mirrors Berkeley’s idealism.
Take the case of Lady Dulcinea.
To others, she is just a simple farm girl. But to Don Quixote, she is a radiant noblewoman worthy of his undying devotion.
He describes her with unshakable certainty:
“Her beauty surpasses that of the brightest star in the sky.”
His belief transforms her, at least in his mind, into the ideal of womanhood.
In Berkeleyan terms, her “reality” as a noblewoman exists because Don Quixote perceives her that way.
Don Quixote’s adventures show how the mind’s perceptions create meaning and purpose.
While others might laugh at his “madness,” his world is rich with wonder, courage, and honor.
Cervantes even suggests that Quixote’s reality, though unusual, holds a certain beauty.
Don Quixote declares:
“I know who I am, and who I may be, if I choose.”
This statement reflects his complete commitment to the reality he has constructed.
Don Quixote reminds us that reality isn’t always about objective truths.
Sometimes, it’s about the meaning we give to what we experience. His life might seem tragic to some, but it’s also a testament to the power of the mind to shape a world filled with wonder.

The Problem with Over-Reliance on Perception
Critics argue that reality doesn’t depend on someone observing it.
Dr. Samuel Johnson, a famous critic of Berkeley, reportedly kicked a rock and declared, “I refute it thus!”
He meant that the rock’s solid reality didn’t depend on someone perceiving it—it just was.
Berkeley’s theory also struggles with scientific evidence.
Scientists often study things that no one directly perceives, like atoms or distant galaxies. These objects have properties that exist regardless of human observation.
For example, the moon doesn’t stop orbiting Earth when no one looks at it through a telescope.
Albert Einstein famously expressed doubt about this kind of idealism.
He quipped, “I like to think the moon is there even if I am not looking at it.”
This statement underscores how difficult it is to accept Berkeley’s idea that reality is purely tied to perception.
Philosopher G.E. Moore, another critic, defended common sense against Berkeley’s claims.
He argued that we should trust our instincts about reality, saying, “Here is one hand, and here is another.” For Moore, this simple truth—holding up his hands—was more convincing than Berkeley’s abstract arguments.
History also provides examples that challenge Berkeley’s ideas.
Consider the discovery of bacteria by Antonie van Leeuwenhoek in the 17th century.
For centuries, people had no idea that microorganisms existed because they were too small to see.
Yet bacteria were still there, causing diseases and shaping ecosystems, even when no one perceived them.
This discovery, made possible by the invention of the microscope, shows that parts of reality exist independently of our senses—they don’t vanish just because they go unnoticed.

Final Words
Despite the criticism, Berkeley’s idealism isn’t without value.
It offers a perspective on how deeply our minds shape the world we experience.
His ideas are especially useful in contexts like art, literature, or psychology, where human perception defines meaning and reality.
His philosophy challenges us to think about how we perceive the world and opens up fascinating questions about the nature of reality—even if it doesn’t fully capture the complexity of the physical universe.
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