George Berkeley (1685-1753) is widely regarded as Ireland's greatest philosopher. His most influential philosophical thesis, “immaterialism”, has attracted considerable attention in the fields of epistemology and metaphysics from the eighteenth century to the present day. Berkeley also wrote important works on the psychology of vision, on mechanical science, mathematics, economics, moral and political philosophy, Christian apologetics; and (notoriously and extensively) on the medicinal virtues of “tar-water”. His main influences in his early work are generally regarded to be John Locke and Nicolas Malebranche, and in later life writers in the Platonist tradition. He had considerable influence on the works of philosophers such as …
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Citation: Storrie, Stefan. "George Berkeley". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 February 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=383, accessed 22 November 2024.]
