George Berkeley

(A series of posts leading up to/including The Nocturnes Photo Tour in the West of Ireland, July 15-25, 2013)

 

"The eye, by long use comes to see even in the darkest cavern: and there is no subject so obscure but we may discern some glimpse of truth by long poring on it."

- George Berkeley (Irish philosopher, 1685-1753)

George Berkeley, also known as Bishop Berkeley (Bishop of Cloyne), was an Anglo-Irish philosopher, physicist, mathematician, 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 only ideas in the minds of perceivers, and as a result cannot exist without being perceived. Thus, as Berkeley famously put it, for physical objects "esse est percipi" ("to be is to be perceived"). Berkeley is also known for his critique of abstraction, an important premise in his argument for immaterialism.

The university town of Berkeley in California is named in his honour.

Image and links to lots more info here.

From The [not so] Daily Nocturne