Final answer:
George Berkeley's doctrine of idealism proposes that matter does not exist independently of perception.
Step-by-step explanation:
George Berkeley, a prominent philosopher and bishop, presented idealism, a doctrine which fundamentally denies the autonomous existence of matter. Berkeley posited that sensible properties are all one can know of objects, and without such properties, there is no way to comprehend bare matter. He argues that this reduces objects to nothing more than their perceivable qualities, leading to the conclusion that physical objects do not exist independently of perception by minds.
Berkeley takes this further by inferring that our perceptions are orchestrated by a higher spirit or God. Thus, any sensory experience of matter is deemed a direct consequence of God's will, and it is this divine causation that brings our sensory world into existence. Simply put, material objects and our interaction with them are products of divine volition, dissolving the reality of autonomous physical entities.
This is exemplified when considering intentionality and the laws of physics. While materialists attribute actions to physical laws without inherent purpose, Berkeley's immaterialist view would ascribe all such phenomena to the active intention of a higher spiritual entity.