Ward's Book of Days.
Pages of interesting anniversaries.
What happened on this day in history.
MARCH 12th
On this day in history in 1685, was born George Berkeley.
Berkeley was a mathematician, theologian and philosopher who is best remembered for his theory of the non-existence of matter.
Berkeley
was born on 12th March 1685, the son of an army officer in the
dragoons. He was brought up in Dysert Castle in Ireland and entered Trinity
College, Dublin in 1700, graduating in 1704. He attempted to write a
mathematical thesis in order to obtain a college fellowship, and during the
course of his studies read the works of the philosophers, John Locke and
Nicolas Malebranche, who argued that all new discovery requires complete
scepticism in accepted beliefs. Taking this policy to the extreme, Berkeley
argued that an object could only exist when a person perceives it to exist, by
using the basic five senses. An object, which is not perceived, does not in
fact exist, and therefore matter as such does not exist.
Berkeley
went on to take his fellowship on a thesis based on the more conventional
ideas of theology and mathematics. In 1721, Berkeley took holy orders and in
1724, was consecrated a bishop. His life was devoted to theology, with
occasional discourses in mathematics. He challenged Newton’s theory of
calculus, but it was his theory of the non-existence of matter, which made him
famous. The theory became the focus of intellectual debate largely because it
could not be scientifically disproved. Many philosophers attempted to disprove
Berkeley’s theory and these anti-Berkeley philosophies were, in turn,
challenged by other philosophers, thereby bringing a whole sequence of new
ideas into play. Dr Johnson, when challenged by Boswell to refute the theory
of the non-existence of matter, took Boswell to a milestone on the road, and,
kicking it, stated, “Sir, I refute it thus!”
Berkeley died at his home in Oxford on 14th January 1753 and is buried in Christchurch Cathedral, Oxford. [St Aldgates, Oxford OX1 1DP]
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