George Berkeley

The life of Berkeley  Born in Kilkenny County, Ireland on March 12, 1685  He was a precocious child  Not much is known of his childhood.  In 1696, he attended Kilkenny School  In 1700, he attended Trinity college in Dublin  Studied mathematics, logic, language, and PHILOSOPHY!!!  1709, Berkeley became deacon at his church. Same year he traveled to London to meet with writers Joseph Addison, Sir Richard Steel, Alexander Pope, and Jonathan swift, who he had written essay’s for.

Life con’t , he traveled around the continent. In , he had returned home to tutor George Ahse, the son of the Bishop of Clogher. All this around the same time of De motu “Of Motion” argued against Einstein and Newton’s thoughts of motion, time, and space. Was named “precursor of March and Einstein” In 1724, he became dean of Derry Died on January 14, In bed while his wife was reading him the bible

 Berkeley worked mainly to convert others to Christianity.  Had an interest for educating the English Society with his theories.  Scheme to build the College of Bermuda.  Plans eventually abandoned  Wanted to educate the American Indians  He married in 1728 and had 6 children, then moved to Rhode Island.  He soon returned to Ireland to be appointed Bishop of Cloyne.

Works and Influences  Ides influenced by John Locke (Wynn’s guy) and the continental thinkers Nicolas Malebranche and Pierre Bayle.  He had published three books buy the age of thirty.  His writing involving immateriality of objects, based on subjectivity of sense perception.  “This table I write on, I say, exists, that is, I see and fell it, and were I out of my study I should say it existed, meaning thereby that if I was in my study I might perceive it, or that other spirit does perceive. “

Works con’t…  His published works include:  An essay toward a new theory of vision, 1709  A treatise concerning the principles of human knowledge, 1710  Three dialogues between Hylas and Philonous, 1713  De motu, 1721  Alciphron, 1732  Theory of vision, 1733  The analyst, 1734  A defense of free thinking in mathematics, 1735  The querist,  Siris, 1744

Philosophy  Berkeley’s position of things were very negative.  He wanted to destroy what had become the generally accepted eighteenth century viewpoint on the issues he talks about in his work.  Galileo and Newton  Notions of force, gravity, fluxions, and infinitesimals  Entire life was build from ideas  Combo of John Locke’s notions of common sense and David Hume’s skepticism  Insisted the senses are avenues to knowledge

 Arguments are a source of intellectual confusion  Argued against Locke’s hypothesis of matter  “It is quite the other way around. Sensory experiences do not lead to doubt and abstracted notion of “substratum” called matter, but rather to a direct manifestation of the reality of mind or spirit. As a human…” (long quote)  He came up with the idea, “all those bodies which compose the mighty frame of the world, have not any subsistence with out a mind-that their being is to be perceived or known.” It shocked value.  Existence and being  Spoke at many political events