1685–1753
○ Died of illness
Irish bishop who denied the reality of matter, holding that to be is to be perceived: the founder of subjective idealism
An Anglo-Irish philosopher who studied and taught at Trinity College Dublin and from 1734 was Bishop of Cloyne in the Church of Ireland. In the Principles of Human Knowledge (1710) and the Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous (1713) he argued for immaterialism: there is no material substance, and things are ideas perceived by minds, a view summed up as "to be is to be perceived". The position later came to be called subjective idealism and influenced Hume and Kant. His critique of Newton's absolute space anticipated Mach, and in Materialism and Empirio-criticism Lenin traced Machism back to Berkeley.
Also known as: Bishop Berkeley
Activities and affiliations
-
1707–1724
Ireland state institutionsFellow and lecturer, Trinity College Dublin
Education -
1709–1753
Scholarship and theory
-
1734–1753
Ireland state institutionsBishop of Cloyne, Church of Ireland
Religion
Career Timeline
- 1707Junior Fellow of Trinity College Dublin
- 1709An Essay towards a New Theory of Vision
- 1710A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
- 1713Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous
- 1728–1732In Rhode Island for the Bermuda college project
- 1734–1753Bishop of Cloyne