George Berkeley

George Berkeley (British English:/{{IPA|?b??.kli?}}/; Irish English: /{{IPA|?b??.kli}}/) (March 12, 1685 – January 14, 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical achievement is the advancement of what has come to be called subjective idealism, summed up in his dictum, "Esse est percipi" ("To be is to be perceived"). Basically, the theory is that we can only directly know sensations and ideas of objects, not abstractions such as "matter". He wrote a number of works, the most widely-read of which are his Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) and Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713) (Philonous, the "lover of the mind", representing Berkeley himself). In 1734 he published The Analyst, a critique of the foundations of science, which was very influential in the subsequent development of mathematics.

Contributions to Philosophy

Berkeley's theorizing was Empiricism at its most extreme. As a young man, Berkeley theorized that we cannot know if an object is, we can only know if an object is perceived by a mind. We can't think or talk about an object's being. We can only think or talk about an object's being perceived by someone. We can't know any "real" object (matter) "behind" the object as we perceive it, which "causes" our perceptions. All that we know about an object is our perception of it.

Related Topics:
Empiricism - Matter

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The object we perceive is the only object that we know and experience. If we need to speak at all of the "real" or "material" object (the latter in particular being a confused term which Berkeley sought to dispose of), it is this perceived object to which all such names should exclusively refer.

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This arouses the question whether this perceived object is "objective" in the sense of being "the same" for our fellow humans, in fact if even the concept of other human beings (beyond our perception of them) is valid. Berkeley argues that since we experience other humans in the way they speak to us—something which is not originating from any activity of our own—and since we learn that their view of the world is consistent with ours, we can believe in their existence and in the world being identical (similar) for everyone.

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It follows that:

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• Any knowledge of the empirical world is to be obtained only through direct perception.
• Error comes about through thinking about what we perceive.
• Knowledge of the empirical world of people and things and actions around us may be purified and perfected merely by stripping away all thought (and with it language) from our pure perceptions.

From this it follows that:

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• The ideal form of scientific knowledge is to be obtained by pursuing pure de-intellectualized perceptions.
• If we would pursue these, we would be able to obtain the deepest insights into the natural world and the world of human thought and action which is available to man.
• The goal of all science, therefore, is to de-intellectualize or de-conceptualize, and thereby purify, our perceptions.

Theologically, one consequence of Berkeley's views is that they require God to be present as an immediate cause of all our experiences. God is not the distant engineer of Newtonian machinery that in the fullness of time led to the growth of a tree in the university's quadrangle. Rather, my perception of the tree is an idea that God's mind has produced in mine, and the tree continues to exist in the Quad when "nobody" is there simply because God is always there.

Related Topics:
God - Cause - Newtonian

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The philosophy of David Hume concerning causality and objectivity is an elaboration of another aspect of Berkeley's philosophy. Immanuel Kant mischaracterized Berkeley as a radical idealist and falsely claimed that Berkeley's principles make objective knowledge impossible. As Berkeley's thought progressed, he may have almost entirely assimilated his theories to those of Plato, though this is far from certain. Luce, the most eminent Berkeley scholar of the twentieth century, constantly stressed the continuity of Berkeley's mature philosophy. This suggests a continuity between the Principles, Alciphron and the rest of Berkeley's philosophical works. Furthermore, Berkeley?s unwavering panentheism is evidence that counts against a complete assimilation with Platonism, and Alciphron is a development rather than a revision of anything in the earlier works. The fact that the main works were re-issued just a few years before Berkeley's death without major changes also counts against any theory which attributes to him a volte face.

Related Topics:
David Hume - Immanuel Kant - Plato - Panentheism

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Over a century later Berkeley's thought experiment was summarised in a limerick and reply by Ronald Knox;

Related Topics:
Limerick - Ronald Knox

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:There was a young man who said "God

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:Must think it exceedingly odd

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::If he finds that this tree

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::Continues to be

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:When there's no one about in the Quad."

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:"Dear Sir, your astonishment's odd;

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:I am always about in the Quad

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::And that's why this tree

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::Will continue to be

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:Since observed by Yours faithfully, God."

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In reference to Berkeley, Dr. Samuel Johnson kicked a heavy stone and exclaimed, "Thus I refute him." But, Johnson only exhibited the commonplace misunderstanding of Berkeley. The only thing that Dr. Johnson knew about the stone was what he saw with his eyes, felt with his foot, and heard with his ears. That is, the existence of the stone consisted exclusively of Dr. Johnson's perceptions. Other than that, the stone could possibly be anything imaginable: atoms, quarks, electrical impulses, etc.. Whatever the stone was, apart from the sensations that he felt and the ideas or mental pictures that he perceived, was completely unknown to him and, therefore, was nothing to him. The kicked stone existed as an idea in his mind. Otherwise, it was nothing.

Related Topics:
Samuel Johnson - Atom - Quarks

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Berkeley's A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge was published three years before the publication of Arthur Collier's Clavis Universalis, which made assertions similar to those of Berkeley. However, there seemed to have been no influence between the two writers.

Related Topics:
Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge - Arthur Collier - Clavis Universalis

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Schopenhauer wrote: "Berkeley was, therefore, the first to treat the subjective starting-point really seriously and to demonstrate irrefutably its absolute necessity. He is the father of idealism...." (Parerga and Paralipomena, Vol.I, "Fragments for the History of Philosophy," § 12)

Related Topics:
Schopenhauer - Idealism

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