Summary
Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the work of George Berkeley, an Anglican bishop who was one of the most important philosophers of the eighteenth century. Bishop Berkeley believed that objects only truly exist in the mind of somebody who perceives them - an idea he called immaterialism. His interests and writing ranged widely, from the science of optics to religion and the medicinal benefits of tar water. His work on the nature of perception was a spur to many later thinkers, including David Hume and Immanuel Kant. The clarity of Berkeley's writing, and his ability to pose a profound problem in an easily understood form, has made him one of the most admired early modern thinkers.
With:
Peter Millican Gilbert Ryle Fellow and Professor of Philosophy at Hertford College, Oxford
Tom Stoneham Professor of Philosophy at the University of York
Michela Massimi Senior Lecturer in Philosophy of Science at the University of Edinburgh.
Producer: Thomas Morris.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know. |
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| 0:46.0 | the program. |
| 0:47.0 | Hello in his life of Samuel Johnson James Boswell recalls a conversation the two men had about the work of the philosopher George Barclay and his theory that objects do not really exist except as ideas in our minds. |
| 1:01.0 | Boswell observed to Dr Johnson that although Berkeley's theory was obviously in our |
| 1:03.0 | dear |
| 1:05.0 | book is well, though Barclay's theory was obviously wrong, it was also impossible to refute. |
| 1:08.0 | He later wrote, |
| 1:10.0 | I never sure forget the alacrity with which Johnson answered, |
| 1:12.0 | striking his foot with mighty force against |
| 1:14.9 | a large stone till he rebounded from it. |
| 1:17.7 | I refute it thus, he said. |
| 1:20.7 | Barclay was an Anglican Bishop from Ireland who became one of the most celebrated thinkers of the 18th century. |
| 1:25.6 | In a series of philosophical works he outlined a theory that he called immaterialism, which argued for the inexistence of matter. |
| 1:33.0 | Like John Locke and David Hume, |
| 1:35.0 | Barclay is often described as a British empiricist, |
... |
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