George Berkeley Idealism and the Man

Provides a comprehensive picture of the life and thought of George Berkeley, integrating his philosophy with his religion. The book reveals Berkeley to be a deep and human thinker, rather than a virtuous idealist.



Unlike nearly all studies of Berkeley, this book looks at the full range of his work and links it with his life - focusing in particular on his religious thought. While aiming to present a clear picture of his career, this book breaks new ground on, among other topics, Berkeley's philosophical strategy, his account of immortality, his Jacobitism, his emotive theory of religious mysteries, and the motivation of his Siris (1744). Also distinctive is the attention paid to the Irish context of his thought, his symbolic frontispieces and portraits, and recent discoveries concerning his life and writings. The Berkeley that emerges from this study is deeper and more human that the usual picture of him as a starry-eyed idealist with every virtue under heaven.