George Berkeley Quotes


The real essence, the internal qualities, and constitution of even the meanest object, is hid from our view; something there is inevery drop of water, every grain of sand, which it is beyond the power of human understanding to fathom or comprehend. But it is evidentthat we are influenced by false principles to that degree as to mistrust our senses, and think we know nothing of those things which we perfectly comprehend.


Citations

Berkeley, George. Three Dialogues Between Hylas and Philonous. Henry Clements, 1713, First Dialogue.

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George Berkeley
George Berkeley
  • Born: March 12, 1685
  • Died: January 14, 1753
  • Nationality: Irish
  • Profession: Philosopher

George Berkeley – known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne of the Anglican Church of Ireland) – was an Anglo-Irish philosopher whose primary achievement was the advancement of a theory he called "immaterialism" (later referred to as "subjective idealism" by others). This theory denies the existence of material substance and instead contends that familiar objects like tables and chairs are ideas perceived by the minds and, as a result, cannot exist without being perceived. Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism.