An Ode to George Berkeley!

In my last year of high school I had to do a project on George Berkeley, the influential 18th Century Irish Philosopher. At the time I hated the philosophies he espoused and finished the project, very poorly, kicking and screaming. Such was my dislike for the subject matter that as soon as the project was over, I promptly blotted Berkeley from mind and memory.

Today I was having a discussion on philosophy and I was saying that I had studied philosophy as a teenager. I became extremely frustrated when I couldn't remember which philosopher I had done my project on. I immediately started researching philosophers until Berkeley popped into my mind. So, I thought I'd write a quick tribute to George Berkeley for treating him with such disdain as an 18 year old.

George Berkeley was born 12 March 1685 and died 14 January 1753. He sits within in the philosophical schools of Idealism and Empiricism. David Hume of the Scottish Enlightenment movement was one of Berkeley's main influences. His major philosophical achievement was the development of what is now called subjective idealism This theory describes 'a relationship between human experience of the external world, and that world itself, in which objects are nothing more than collections (or bundles) of sense data in those who perceive them.' (From Wikipedia)

'This theory can be summed up in his dictum, "Esse est percipi" ("to be is to be perceived"). The theory states that individuals can only directly know sensations and ideas of objects, not abstractions such as "matter". '(Taken from Wikipedia)

I like the limerick by Ronald Knox summerising Berkeley's philosophy:

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."
"Dear Sir, your astonishment's odd;
I am always about in the Quad
And that's why this tree
Will continue to be
Since observed by Yours faithfully, God."

I wont write anymore here but there is further info on his published works and life on Wikipedia