George Berkeley
George Berkeley
Similar artists via Last.fm
Rene Descartes
About George Berkeley
George Berkeley (IPA: /ˈbɑː(ɹ).kli/, Bark-Lee) (12 March 1685 – 14 January 1753), also known as Bishop Berkeley, was an influential Irish philosopher whose primary philosophical achievement is the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism" (later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others). This theory, summed up in his dictum, "Esse est percipi" ("To be is to be perceived"), contends that individuals can only directly know sensations and ideas of objects, not abstractions such as "matter." His most widely-read works are A 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 and Hylas, named after the ancient Greek word for matter, partially representing the ideas of Locke). In 1734 he published The Analyst, a critique of the foundations of calculus, which was influential in the development of mathematics. Berkeley's influence is reflected in the institutions of education named in his honour. Both University of California, Berkeley and the city that grew up around the university, were named after him, although the pronunciation has evolved to suit American English. The name was suggested in 1866 by a trustee of the then College of California, Frederick Billings. Billings was inspired by Berkeley's Verses on the Prospect of Planting Arts and Learning in America, particularly the final stanza: "Westward the course of empire takes its way; The first four Acts already past, A fifth shall close the Drama with the day; Time's noblest offspring is the last." A residential college in Yale University also bears Berkeley's name, as does a reading room of Trinity College Library, Dublin.
Taken from Last.fm
155 listeners · 464 plays via Last.fm