George Berkeley: Philosophy, basic ideas, biography

Among the philosophers who profess empirical and idealistic views, one of the most famous is George Berkeley. His father was an Englishman, but George considered himself Irish, since it was there, in the south of Ireland, he was born in 1685. Since the age of fifteen, the young man has started a period of study in college, with which he will be connected in one way or another for a long period of his life (until 1724). In 1704, Berkeley Jr. received a bachelor's degree, and three years later - a master's degree with the right to teach in a junior pedagogical college. A few years later he became a priest of the Anglican church, and then - a doctor of philosophy and a senior teacher in college.

Subjective Idealism

Even in his young years, Berkeley choosing between materialistic views and subjective idealism, took the side of the latter. He became a defender of religion and in his works showed the dependence of man's perception of matter on how it is perceived and felt by the soul (mind, consciousness) formed by God. Even in his youth, works were written that became significant for the development of philosophical thought and glorified the name - George Berkeley.

Philosophy and the search for truth became the meaning of the life of the Irish thinker. Among his works are interesting: "The experience of a new theory of vision," "Treatise on the principles of human knowledge," "Three conversations between Hylas and Philonus." In publishing the work on a new vision, the young philosopher set himself the goal of belittling the importance of primary qualities that prove independence from our consciousness and the reality of matter. In contrast to Descartes' theory of the length of bodies that has already won popularity at that time, he reveals the dependence of perception of distance, form and position of objects through vision. According to the philosopher, the connection between various sensations is a field of logic that is formed by experience.

Significant works of the philosopher

Among the works of the thinker were various reflections, including those with a theological bias. But one of the most interesting works is "The Three Dialogues of Hylas and Philonus" (George Berkeley - Philosophy), briefly about which one can say this: the author posed the question of the metaphysical perception of the relativity of comprehending reality, as well as phenomenalism. In Berkeley's work, The Movement, he challenges the Newtonian views on the abstract understanding of motion. The philosophical approach of George is that the movement can not be independent of space and time. Not only this concept was criticized by the philosopher, but many other categories of Newton.

Also worthy of attention are two more works of Berkeley: a conversation between freethinkers "Alkifron" and philosophical arguments about tar water, where he raises the question of the medical benefits of tar, and also digresses aside abstract philosophical and theological topics.

A family

The wife of the philosopher was Anna Forster - the judge's daughter (her father was the Irish Supreme Judge in litigation). It is worth noting the easy, friendly and cheerful nature of George. He was loved by friends and acquaintances. In his care, soon there was an educational house, founded by a royal charter. His wife gave him seven children. However, in those days many children did not live to an adult, conscious age because of illness. Berkeley survived only three, and the rest died.

When George Berkeley received an inheritance, he proposed the establishment of a school in Bermuda where pagans would convert to Christianity. At first the mission was approved and approved by Parliament in every possible way, and also supported by aristocratic circles. However, when the missionary and his companions retired to the island, it was gradually forgotten. And without proper funding, the learned philosopher had to stop missionary work. Gradually, he leaves his affairs and spends more time with his son. George Berkeley lived sixty-seven years and died in 1752. In honor of it, the city of Berkeley is named in one of the states of America - California.

Ontology of Berkeley

Under the influence of the world view of the great philosopher, many thinkers have fallen, including Kant and Hume. The main idea that Berkeley preached in his views was the significance of the sense of touch of the soul and the images formed by it. In other words, any perception of matter is a consequence of the perception of it by the soul of a person. His main doctrine was the theory of subjective idealism: "There is only me and my sensory perception of the world. Matter does not exist, there is only my subjective perception of it. God sends and forms ideas, through which a person feels everything in this world ... ".

In the philosopher's understanding, to exist is to perceive. Berkeley's ontology is the principle of solipsism. According to the views of the thinker, the existence of other souls that have a "finite" appearance is only a plausible plausible reasoning, the basis of which are analogies.

Inconsistency of views

However, a certain inconsistency is observed in the philosopher's teaching. For example, in the same substance "I" he used the same arguments to criticize the material and to prove the indivisibility and unity of the beginning. However, his follower David Hume designed these ideas in a theory where he transferred the concept of matter to the spiritual component: the individual "I" is a "bundle of perceptions". It is impossible not to tear yourself away from the materialist view, when you study the works written by the philosopher George Berkeley.

Quotations of the theologian and thinker suggest the idea of the eternity and significance of God in the life of man, his dependence on the Supreme. But at the same time you come across some inconsistency and inconsistency in Berkeley's works, which is revealed in the critical statements of many philosophers.

Continental and the philosophy of Berkeley

Berkeley came to the conclusion that there is a God who is the only one who creates his own will in the souls of people. In his opinion, a person does not have power over his feelings, even if he thinks so. After all, if a person opens his eyes and sees light - it does not depend on his will, or he hears a bird - this is also not his will. He can not choose between "seeing" and "not seeing," which means there is a different will of a higher level that produces feelings and sensations in a person.

Studying the works that George Berkeley wrote, some researchers came to conclusions (which, however, are not confirmed definitively, but have the right to exist) that the views of the philosopher are formed on the basis of the theory of the Malebranche. This makes it possible to consider Berkeley an Irish Carthusian, rejecting the existence of empiricism in his teaching. Since 1977, Ireland has published a newsletter in honor of the great philosopher.

A historical place in philosophy

The teaching that George Berkeley left behind, the biography of the thinker - all this is of great interest and value for the historical development of philosophy. His theory gave a new impetus, a new spiral of development in the direction of philosophical thought. Schopenhauer considers Berkeley's merits immortal and calls him the father of idealism. Thomas Reed also for a long time was impressed by the philosophical thought preached by George Berkeley. The main ideas of the philosopher will be studied by more than one generation of thinkers. However, many of them, including Thomas Reid, subsequently began to criticize them.

The teaching of Berkeley entered the textbooks on philosophy as empirical views. More than one generation of philosophers will be impressed by his theory and then accept, develop or disprove it. His views gained the greatest popularity on the territory of Poland, but in many Slavic countries his philosophy was spread and occupied a worthy place among such works.