Defending Hylas and Supporting LockeI want to defend and support John Locke's "The Causal Theory of Perception" because it is a logical argument with many useful applications. First, this argument allows us to make more objective judgments about the world we perceive: it allows us to see reality more accurately by telling us how to separate the object itself from our opinions or qualitative value judgments about the object. However, just because a particular theory is useful does not mean that the theory itself is correct, although that might be the reason for trying to prove its correctness. Therefore, I must also address George Berkeley's argument, made by his character Philonous in Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous, that "to exist is to be perceived." To address Berkeley's argument, I will consider the Hylas and Philonous tree argument. This is a nice variation on the common riddle "If a tree falls in the middle of a forest and no one is there to hear it, does it make a noise?" Philonous is trying to prove that everything that exists is perceived and therefore exists only in the mind. If this is true, then nothing exists without the mind, and it is therefore useless to distinguish between primary and secondary qualities as Locke does. Philonous challenges Hylas to conceive of any sensible object existing without the mind. Hylas responds with the idea of ​​a tree that exists alone, independent and unperceived by any mind. Philonous then points out that this is a contradiction: conceiving a thing that is not conceived. However, these two puzzles fail to take into account one crucial element: time. Now I intend to demonstrate that... middle of the paper... Locke provides another good example with his example of the flame. A flame can have a defined temperature, a primary quality of something that exists. It may also have warmth, a secondary quality we see in the object that is closely related to the primary quality, but it is a value judgment. And there can be the perception of pain, an idea that exists only in the mind, independent of the flame, even if associated with it. If you accept these ideas, you have a useful tool to help you be objective about a certain thing. If we remember these distinctions, then we can identify and separate from each other those qualities that exist in the object itself, those judgments we make about those qualities, and those ideas we have independently of an object. Separating primary qualities from secondary qualities allows us to perceive reality more accurately.