George
Berkeley was born March 12, 1685 at Kilkenney, Ireland of noble
English ancestry. He attended Trinity College in Dublin where he
earned a Master's degree in 1707 and as a student, fellow and teacher
developed his most important philosophical work.
The essence of Berkeley's philosophy was his assertion that matter
doesn't exist. He held that all objects perceived outside ourselves
are simply ideas that exist only in the mind. He radically claimed
that 'esse ist percipi' - meaning 'to be is to be perceived.'
This philosophy, and others like it, which take the view that the
external world is somehow produced by the mind, is known as idealism.
As well as being considered an empiricist, Berkeley was also widely
known as the father of philosophical idealism. He maintained that God,
in whose mind all things exist at all times, implants in us in an
orderly manner, all ideas. Therefore reality, or knowledge of the
world, consists of the rational communication of ideas between God's
eternal mind and our infinite minds.
Unlike John
Locke, who also argued that ideas rather that external objects
themselves are perceived, Berkeley stated that there is no distinction
between primary (mind independent or existing in objects) and
secondary (mind dependent or existing in us) qualities. He maintained
there is no way of knowing whether our ideas of things are correct
representations of that which they are supposed to represent. We have
no reason to suppose they are caused by external objects, so therefore
there can be no material substance. Hence:
"When we do our utmost to conceive the existence of external
bodies, we are all the while only contemplating our own ideas."
For Berkeley, there is likewise a definite distinction between
ideas and minds. All the objects of human knowledge are either ideas
immediately experienced through sensation (taste, feel, seeing), ideas
we hold from thinking about our emotions, or ideas formed from memory
and imagination. The mind is not one of our ideas "but a thing
entirely distinct from them, wherein they exist…whereby they are
perceived; for the existence of an idea consists in being
perceived."
When Berkeley received objections and criticisms regarding the role
of science and various physical scientific findings, he argued that
the proclamations of science were useful theories rather than factual
accounts.
In one of his best-known works, Principles of Human Knowledge,
Berkeley clearly and plainly presents the argument against
materialism, extols the tenets of idealism, and puts forth a proof of
the existence of God.
A famous verse that enshrines Berkeley's doctrine was written by
Ronald Knox and is as follows:
There was a young man who said, 'God
Must think it exceedingly odd
If he finds that this tree
Continues to be
When there's no one about in the Quad.'
The reply
'Dear Sir:
Your astonishment's odd;
I am always about in the Quad.
And that's why the tree
Will continue to be
Since observed by,
Yours faithfully,
God.'