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Berkeley

Modern philosophy

Berkeley was an Irish empiricist philosopher of the 18th century (1685-1753). He taught at Trinity College Dublin and was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church. He is known for his Principles of Human Knowledge in which he develops the astonishing doctrine of immaterialism, but also for his Essay on a New Theory of Vision, a work on optics. He left for America to found a college to train Anglican ministers. He returned to London and ended his days at Oxford.


Berkeley's works summarised on this site

book cover

A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge

In this work Berkeley sets out his surprising doctrine of immaterialism, which he argues derives logically from a well-understood empiricism

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Further reading: analysis and commentary

To discover this author's thought in greater depth, these books will be useful:

Turbayne, Colin Murray (1982). Berkeley Critical and Interpretive Essays. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press
Fogelin, Robert (2001). Berkeley and the Principles of Human Knowledge. Routledge. Muehlmann, Robert G. (1992). Berkeley's Ontology. Indianapolis/Cambridge: Hackett Publishing Company
New Interpretations of Berkeley's Thought. Ed. by S. H. Daniel. New York: Humanity Books, 2008
Berlioz D., Berkeley, a realist nominalism, Vrin, Paris, 2002

Biography: life of Berkeley

Youth

George Berkeley was born in Ireland, in 1685, at Thomastown, into a noble family of the Anglican faith.

He began his studies at Kilkenny College, but continued them at Trinity College, Dublin, the capital.

In 1707, he graduated, but remained at this institution to teach Greek as a tutor.

The philosopher

Two years later, he published his first work: An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision. He was a precocious thinker, being only twenty-two years old.

This book gave him some notoriety; moreover, his conclusions, innovative for the time, are still considered valid today, and used in the current theory of optics.


The year 1710 was an eventful one.

First, he was ordained priest of the Anglican Church.

He published his second work, the Principles of Human Knowledge, which established Berkeley as one of the great exponents of idealism. This masterpiece with its puzzling conclusions aroused both admiration and scepticism among his contemporaries.

This is why, in 1713, he wrote the Three Dialogues between Hylas and Philonous: he sought to answer the objections that the Principles of Human Knowledge had raised.

A portrait of George Berkeley
A portrait of George Berkeley

The traveller

He travelled to England, where he was engaged as secretary and chaplain by Lord Peterborough, whom he followed on his European travels. He thus visited Italy, Spain and France, where he wrote his treatise On Motion (De Motu).


This phase of his life lasted eight years. At the end of this phase, in 1721, he decided to return to Dublin, where he took holy orders, obtained his doctorate in theology and taught at Trinity College. He was appointed Dean of Derry, an office that brought him a substantial annuity.

Four years later, he made a fundamental shift by relinquishing his office, and leaving for America, where he planned to open a college, for the training of priests and missionaries.

The journey was not an easy one, as he took his library of 20,000 volumes with him.


On his arrival, he bought a plantation near Newport, in the state of Rhode Island, and lived there for a few years, waiting for the funds promised by England to carry out his project. The funds never came, which is why he decided to return to London in 1732.

The Bishop

He was appointed bishop at Cloyne, Ireland, an office he held until his retirement in 1752.

During this latter period of his life, he published The Analyst, a critical examination of the foundations of science, which exerted an important influence on later developments in mathematics.

He also wrote some minor works, including his treatise on the virtues of tar water.


In 1753, he died in Oxford.

To honour his memory, his name was given to a town in the United States.

Main works

An Essay Towards a New Theory of Vision
A Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge
Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous