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Show Notes
In this episode of pplpod, we explore the life and mind of George Berkeley, the 18th-century Anglo-Irish philosopher and Bishop of Cloyne famously known as the "father of idealism". Join us as we unpack his radical theory of "immaterialism," in which he argued that physical objects—like tables and chairs—are actually just collections of ideas that cannot exist without being perceived,.
We break down his famous maxim esse est percipi ("to be is to be perceived") and his argument that the physical world is maintained by the perception of an infinite mind: God,. Beyond his metaphysics, we trace Berkeley's journey from Trinity College Dublin to a plantation in Rhode Island, where he awaited funding for a college in Bermuda that never materialized,.
Tune in to learn about:
- His critiques of Isaac Newton and the "ghosts of departed quantities" in calculus,.
- His controversial legacy as a slave owner in America.
- His late-life obsession with the medicinal virtues of tar-water.
- Why the city of Berkeley, California, is named after him.