GEORGE BERKELEY BIOGRAPHY
George Berkeley was born near Kilkenny, Ireland, in 1685, the eldest son of William Berkeley, a cadet of the noble family of Berkeley. He was raised in Dysart Castle. Berkeley entered Trinity College, Dublin on 21 March 1700. He remained associated with Trinity College until 1724. After completing his doctorate, he became a Senior Fellow in 1717. As was common practice for British academics at the time, Berkeley was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1710. Berkeley was a priest of the Church of Ireland and in the 1720s, his religious interests came to the fore. As an Anglican Bishop and philosopher, he was a deeply religious man who tied to reconcile the science of his day with the doctrines of Christianity. Berkeley published Alciphron (a defense of Christianity), criticisms of Newton’s theory of infinitesimals, The Theory of Vision Vindicated, and revised editions of the Principles, and the Three Dialogues. He was named Bishop of Cloyne in 1734 and lived in Cloyne until his retirement in 1752. His Querist (1735-1737) presents arguments for the reform of the Irish economy. His last philosophical work, Siris (1744), includes a discussion of the medicinal virtues of tar water, followed by properly philosophical discussions that many scholars see as a departure from his earlier idealism.
Short BIOGRAPHY and RELIGIOUS interests
Subjective idealism, or empirical idealism, is the metaphysical doctrine that only minds and mental contents exist. Idealism is the belief that everything that exists depends upon the mind for its existence and that reality consists of whatsoever is perceived by the senses. It entails and is generally identified or associated with immaterialism, the doctrine that material things do not exist. Berkeley’s idealism, which simply identifies physical objects with ideas, involves the rejection of the materialist philosophy that says that physical objects are material substances in their own right capable of mind-independent existence. The only genuine substances, according to Berkeley, are mental substances – minds. Berkeley does not deny that physical objects exist, but he maintains that they are not anything over and above the ideas entertained by minds. There are no material substances, only mental substances. Berkeley gives God a central, universe-sustaining role and is able to observe and control everything. The universe is kept in existence, while we do not observe it, by God’s constant control.
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-In the Principles and the Three Dialogues Berkeley defends two metaphysical theses: idealism (the claim that everything that exists either is a mind or depends on a mind for its existence) and immaterialism (the claim that matter does not exist). His contention that all physical objects are composed of ideas is encapsulated in his motto esse is percipi (to be is to be perceived).
IDEALISM and IMMATERIALISM
This is Kilkenny, Ireland, where Berkeley was born.