(March 14, 2012 at 5:06 pm)ChadWooters Wrote: You cannot deny that perception happens. But you can reasonably deny that a physical reality (or deity for that "matter") is necessary to support perception. Berkeley’s Idealism says, “Prove that physical matter exists,” and “Give me evidence of any reality other than perceived phenomena.”
The demand itself is a form of fallacy of stolen concept. The very validity of proof or evidence relies on existence independent of any perception. If existence were determined by perception, then there would be no such things as facts - since facts are required to be independent of any perception - and without facts, there would be no such thing as a proof.