2014-04-28
18 分钟This is philosophy bites, with me, Nigel.
Warburton, and me, David Edmonds.
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Two us universities have a particular connection to Bishop Berkeley, the irish philosopher born in 1685.
The first is Yale.
Barclay had bought a plantation during his years in the New World, 1728 to 1731, and later donated the land to Yale, providing funding for its first scholarships.
The second is named after him, an honour somewhat devalued by a mispronunciation.
The University of California, Berkeley.
As Berkeley scholar Tom Stoneham explains, the bishop insisted on the distinction between mind and body and became most famous for promoting a theory of immaterialism.
Tom Stoneham, welcome to philosophy bites.
Hello, Nigel.
Thanks for having me.
The topic we're going to focus on is George Berkeley's immaterialism.
What is it?
Immaterialism?
Well, it's the denial of any matter.
It's the view that there is a world, but it's not made of matter.
Okay, we'll come back to that.