Philosophy 20/30Tanisha KotowichMr. Gambier3 March 2014Quotes on philosophyAnalysis, interpretation and application“To be is to be perceived. If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound?" ~ Bishop George Berkeley (1685-1753) As an idealist, Berkeley believed that nothing was real except minds and their ideas. Ideas do not exist independently of mind, but it is rather the mind that provides validity to concepts. Something only exists if someone has the idea of ​​it. It is the recognition made by human beings that takes a mere ambiguous idea and gives it not only meaning but its very existence you look at the opposite idea, it is difficult to fully understand the concept that if an individual is not aware of either an object or an idea, his existence is subjective The reason is this: how can one be aware of the lack of existence of something if one is ignorant of the actual object? There is nothing to prove its existence if the idea of ​​it never occurred in an individual's mind. Although he never asked the question in the exact words given in the quote, Berkeley would say that if a tree fell in the forest and there was no one there to hear it, not only would it not make a sound, but there would be no tree. Due to the lack of presence during the fall, there is nothing to say that the existence of the tree was tangible, let alone the fall. This line of thought ties in with Protagoras' quote "man is the measure of all things", which essentially states that since man is believed to be capable of a higher level of thinking than any other animal, one says that our perception of the world around us justifies everything we see and allows us... middle of paper... individuals with superior abilities rely on others to ensure they don't surpass them. He assures that individuals “The unreal is more powerful than the real, because it is only the intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that endure. The stone crumbles. The wood rots. People, well, they die." ~ Chuck Palahniuk (1962 - Present) The study of philosophy is often defined as the search for the unknown. "The ends justify the means." ~ Niccolò Machiavelli (1469 - 1527) The Machiavelli's famous words have impacted individuals on many different levels in multiple different areas. Everywhere from business to education, this quote has varying degrees of application and truth. What is implied by Machiavelli is that it is not the means by which one achieves the end goal that matters, but rather the fact that they have achieved it. Success is based on the achievement of